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ROBERT    E    LEE 


A    TRIBUTE    OF    RESPECT    OFFERED    BY    THE    CITIZENS 
OF    LOUISVILLE. 


1 With  honor  lay  him  in  his  grave, 

And  thereby  shall  increase  of  honor  come 
Unto  their  arms  who  vanquished  one  so  wise, 
So  valiant,  so  renowned." 

HENRY  TAYLOR. 


LOUISVILLE: 

PRINTED    BY  JOHN    P.MORTON    AND    COMPANY. 
1870. 


PREFACE. 


THIS  publication  is  made  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of 
Confederate  soldiers  residing  in  this  city,  as  expressed  in  the 
subjoined  resolution,  unanimously  adopted  at  a  meeting  held 
October  17,  1870: 

Resolved,  that  a  committee  of  seven  ex-Confederate  soldiers  be  appointed  to 
collect  and  publish  in  appropriate  form  the  various  tributes  of  respect  offered  to 
the  memory  of  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE,  deceased,  by  the  citizens  of  Louisville. 

The  following-named  gentlemen  were  appointed  to  carry 
into  effect  the  objects  of  the  meeting,  viz. :  Messrs.  D.  W. 
YANDELL,  W.  L.  CLARKE,  W.  H.  THOMAS,  J.  B.  PIRTLE, 
PRICE  C.  NEWMAN,  R.  W.  WOOLLEY,  and  WM.  J.  DAVIS. 

For  the  handsome  wood-cut  of  General  LEE'S  birth-place 
the  Committee  is  indebted  to  the  University  Publishing  Com 
pany,  New  York,  who  generously  tendered  the  use  of  the 
plate  without  charge. 


218843 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


THE  CITIZENS. 

On  the  morning  of  the  I3th  of  October,  1870,  the  death  of  General 
LEE  having  been  announced  by  telegraph,  a  large  concourse  of  citizens, 
irrespective  of  party,  wishing  to  give  utterance  to  the  sorrow  filling 
their  hearts,  united  in  the  following 


CALL. 

The  citizens,  friends,  and  admirers  of  the  lamented  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE  are  requested 
to  meet  at  the  court-house  at  half  past  seven  o'clock  this  evening,  to  take  action  in  regard 
to  his  death.  General  John  C.  Breckinridge  has  been  notified  by  telegraph  of  this  call, 
and  will  probably  be  present.  Other  speakers  have  been  invited.  All  who  desire  to  testify 
their  respect  and  veneration  for  the  memory  of  this  great  and  good  man  are  invited. 


JOHN  G.  BAXTER, 
J.  M.  KELLER, 
WARREN  MITCHELL, 
D.  B.  HARRIS, 
J.  C.  BRECKINRIDGE, 
JOHN  B.  PIRTLE, 
CLINTON  MCCLARTY, 
JAMES  BRIDGEFORD, 
JOHN  BARBEE, 


S.  B.  BUCKNER, 
JOHN  B.  SMITH, 
V.  P.  ARMSTRONG, 
ROBERT  W.  WOOLLEY 
W.  V.  MATTHEWS, 
H.  W.  BRUCE, 
J.  P.  JOHNSON, 
CHARLES  SEMPLE, 
JOSEPH  BENEDICT, 


R.    C.    WlNTERSMITH,       J.    B.    GOODLOE, 


B.  W.  DUKE, 
E.  W.  KENNEDY, 

J.    H.    LlNDENBERGER, 

JOE  D.  ALLEN, 
J.  E.  SUTCLIFFE, 
PHIL.  LEE, 

GEORGE  W.  C  HILTON, 
JOHN  F.  YOUNG, 
J.  H.  WELLER, 
J.  H.  LEATHERS, 
And  many  others. 


At  early  twilight  the  circuit  court-room  was  crowded.  The  meeting 
was  organized  by  the  election  of  Colonel  W.  F.  Beasley  as  temporary 
chairman,  and  Major  Clinton  McClarty  as  secretary. 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

A  motion  being  made  that  the  chair  appoint  a  committee  on  per 
manent  organization,  General  I.  M.  St.  John  offered  the  following 
resolution  as  a  substitute,  which  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  that  his  Honor,  J.  G.  BAXTER,  the  Mayor  of  Louisville,  be  selected  as  perma 
nent  chairman  of  this  meeting. 

Resolved,  that  the  permanent  chairman  be  requested  to  appoint  a  committee  of  not  less 
than  five  members  to  draft  suitable  resolutions  expressive  of  the  sentiments  of  the  citizens 
of  Louisville  in  reference  to  the  death  of  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE. 

Resolved,  that  this  meeting  now  adjourn  to  meet  again  at  Weisiger  Hall  at  half  past 
seven  o'clock,  the  I5th  instant,  to  receive  and  act  upon  the  report  of  the  committee  on 
resolutions. 

Mayor  Baxter,  being  duly  installed  as  chairman,  appointed  the 
following  committee  on  resolutions,  who  were  instructed  to  meet  at 
the  office  of  Isaac  Caldwell,  Esq.,  and  perfect  arrangements  to  carry 
out  the  programme  agreed  upon : 

ISAAC  CALDWELL,  I.  M.  ST.  JOHN,  E.  W.  KENNEDY, 

JAMES  BRIDGEFORD,  T.  B.  COCHRAN,  R.  M.  KELLY, 

S.  B.  BUCKNER,  E.  D.  STANDIFORD,  JOHN  BARBEE, 

CHARLES  SEMPLE,  JULIUS  DORN,  N.  BLOOM, 

WARREN  MITCHELL,  GEORGE  P.  DOERN,  \V.  F.  BEASLEY, 

R.  A.  ROBINSON,  T.  E.  BRAMLETTE,  C.  HENRY  FINK, 

J.  F.  BULLITT,  B.  W.  DUKE,  H.  L.  COOK, 

CHARLES  R.  LONG,  HENRY  WATTERSON,  J.  W.  BARR, 

J.  P.  JOHNSON,  JAMES  TRABUE,  A.  O.  BRANNIN, 

W.  B.  HAMILTON,  H.  C.  CARUTH,  PAT.  BANNON. 

At  the  time  appointed  a  dense  throng  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
representing  every  shade  of  political  opinion  and  all  conditions  of 
society,  gathered  at  Weisiger  Hall.  After  sweet  and  solemn  music 
from  a  choir  who  had  volunteered  for  the  occasion,  Mayor  Baxter,  as 
chairman  of  the  meeting,  said : 

"We  have  met  to  mingle  our  sorrow  for  the  loss  we  have  sustained 
in  the  death  of  General  LEE,  and  to  testify  our  respect  for  his  memory. 
I  greatly  regret  that  our  place  of  meeting  is  not  large  enough  to  accom 
modate  all  who  have  come  this  evening  for  this  purpose.  It  is  perhaps 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

unnecessary,  but  I  would  suggest,  because  of  the  vast  number  of  people 
now  assembled  here,  that  the  strictest  order  be  observed,  that  all  may 
hear  and  each  take  his  part  in  the  proceedings.  I  now  introduce  to 
you  Rev.  Mr.  Perkins,  who  will  lead  us  in  prayer." 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  the  only  potentate,  king  of  kings 
and  lord  of  lords,  the  maker  of  all  things,  the  judge  of  all  men,  ordering 
all  things  by  the  council  of  thine  own  will,  we  have  assembled  here 

together,  in  the  order  of  thy  providence,  to  do  homage  to  the  memory 

.   ,. 

of  one  thou  didst  give  us  whom  we  all  loved, and  whose  memory  we  all 

^ 

cherish.  We  come  to  bow  ourselves  in  meekness  and  submission  to 
thy  will,  for  thou  didst  give  and  thou  hast  taken  away.  We  thank  thee 
for  the  gift  of  all  his  excellences  of  character  and  all  his  exalted  worth. 
Thou  didst  give  him  to  us,  and  to  thee  belongeth  all  praise.  We 
earnestly  beseech  thee,  most  gracious  God,  that  thou  wilt  bless  us^  that 
we  may  learn  from  his  exalted  character  and  Christian  deportment  to 
put  our  trust  in  thee,  and  to  submit  ourselves  entirely  to  thy  ordering; 
for,  peerless  among  his  fellows,  he  humbly  bowed  before  thee  as  his  God. 
Possessed  of  exalted  worth  and  excellence  of  character,  he  came  as  a 
sinner,  trusting  for  salvation  through  the  redemption  maheil  out  for 
him  and  us  by  thine  own  precious  Son.  We  pray  thee,  gracious  God, 
that  this  lesson  may  be  impressed  upon  the  heart  of  each  and  every  one 
of  us  who  have  so  esteemed  him,  and  who  now  do  homage  to  his 
memory ;  and,  while  we  thus  thank  thee,  we  would  pray  also  that  thou 
wouldst  give  unto  us  a  spirit  of  resignation,  that  we  may  say,  "  The  Lord 
giveth  and  the  Lord  taketh  away:  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
We  thank  thee,  heavenly  Father,  that  we  can  praise  and  glorify  thy 
precious  name  that  thou  didst  redeem  him  with  the  Savior's  precious 
blood,  renewed  by  thy  blessed  spirit.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  didst 
draw  him  into  the  way  of  life  and  salvation.  We  pray  thee  that  we 
may  be  brought  to  that  salvation  which  thou  hast  wrought  out  for 
him.  We  beseech  thee  to  impress  upon  our  hearts  the  excellence  of 

7 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

that  religion  which  he  received  upon  earth,  and  the  fruition  of  which  he 
is  now  enjoying  in  thy  presence.  Solemnize  this  meeting,  and  impress 
upon  our  hearts  the  importance  of  the  truths  which  it  teaches  us. 
Grant  that  we  may  feel  that  we  have  been  blessed  in  this  coming 
together;  that  we  have  been  brought  nearer  to  thee,  the  Lord  our 
God.  All  of  which  we  humbly  ask  for  the  sake  of  thy  dear  Son,  our 
blessed  Lord  and  Savior,  Jesus  Christ.  Amen. 

Mr.  Isaac  Caldwell,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  resolutions, 
came  forward  and  reported  a  preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were 
adopted. 


REMARKS  OF  ISAAC  CALDWELL. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN:  The  esteem  in  which  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE  was 
held  in  Kentucky  was  not  only  great,  but  I  believe  universal.  During 
those  years  in  which  the  larger  portion  of  his  fame  was  achieved,  and 
since,  I  have  mingled  constantly  with  all  classes  and  all  shades  of  opinion 
in  business  or  social  relations — in  relations  the  freedom  of  which  was 
never  restrained  by  any  party  bitterness  on  my  part — and  it  affords  me 
peculiar  pleasure  on  this  solemn  occasion  to  bear  witness  that  I  have 
never  heard  a  Kentuckian  express  an  unkind  opinion  or  an  unkind  wish 
concerning  him.  He  was  our  countryman;  we  were  proud  of  his  genius. 
He  was  a  Virginian;  we  had  a  property  in  his  fame.  He  was  generous 
and  gentle  and  good;  our  love  of  his  virtues  was  superior  to  all  other 
emotions  concerning  him.  Able  in  command,  magnanimous  in  victory, 
his  biographer  may  maintain  that  it  was  in  defeat  that  he  rose  to  a 
sublime  greatness  which  formed  the  grand  climax  to  his  brilliant  career 
and  fixed  his  rank  as  the  first  military  man  of  his  day.  We  can  do 
nothing  here  to  add  to  his  renown.  He  built  for  himself  an  enduring 
monument.  History  will  inscribe  upon  its  tablet  "immortal."  We  can 
only  mingle  our  tears  with  the  thousands  of  his  admiring  countrymen 

who  mourn  his  death. 

8 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  instructed  by  the  committee  representing  the 
citizens  of  Louisville  to  offer  these  resolutions: 

In  the  interest  of  republican  government,  which,  to  be  genuine,  must  spring  from  the 
whole  people;  in  the  interest  of  an  all-embracing  American  sentiment  which  can  not 
safely  ignore  the  claims  of  any  American  citizen  on  account  of  acts  and  opinions  not  in 
themselves  unworthy ;  and  in  the  interest  of  that  national  unity  and  peace  which,  if  lasting 
and  beneficent,  must  be  constructed  on  the  most  liberal  and  universal  principles  of  modern 
civilization;  the  city  of  Louisville  has  assembled,  in  its  character  of  free  community,  to 
express  in  a  formal  manner  a  sorrow  that  is  not  only  public,  the  result  of  a  public  loss, 
but  also  individual,  the  result  of  a  prevailing  sense  of  a  personal  bereavement.  It  is  our 
opinion  that  popular  culture,  the  basis  of  popular  virtue  and  social  order  and  sound  gov 
ernment,  is  best  encouraged  and  diffused  by  the  prompt  and  cordial  recognition  of  eminent 
virtues  in  eminent  men;  and  that  this  rule,  which  is  deep-set  in  a  wise  public  policy, 
becomes  a  duty  when,  from  any  circumstance,  the  claims  of  a  great  citizen  are  likely  to 
be  obscured  or  divided  in  public  esteem.  The  Union  which  survives  the  vicissitudes  that 
belong  to  human  nature  is  still,  we  think,  a  common  Union,  transmitted  to  us  by  our  fathers, 
and  so  long  as  it  is  a  free  and  peaceful  Union  its  honors  are  the  property  of  all  the  people; 
and  it  is  impolitic,  as  well  as  unjust,  to  make  invidious  discriminations,  based  upon  current 
prejudices  which  are  unlikely  to  endure.  The  interests  of  American  liberty  require  that  we 
should  establish  a  standard  of  national  adjustment  in  harmony  with  the  system  of  govern 
ment  under  which  we  live,  and  the  instincts  of  American  manhood  command  us  to  make 
no  distinction  in  valuing  those  qualities  which  adorn  the  American  character. 

Therefore  the  people  of  Louisville,  occupying  a  middle  place  in  the  geography  of  the 
country,  and  holding  this  middle  ground  between  opposing  extremes,  have  come  together  at 
the  bidding  of  a  spontaneous  patriotic  impulse  to  declare : 

First,  that  we  recognize  in  the  character  of  ROBERT  E.  LEE  qualities  of  head  and  heart 
which  should  make  all  men  proud  to  have  been  his  fellow-countrymen:  probity,  chastity, 
godliness;  a  soul  sincere  and  faithful;  a  mind  upright  and  elevated;  a  disposition  earnest  and 
tranquil;  a  bearing  through  which  the  grace  of  a  god-like  spirit  shone;  realizing  in  all  his 
walks  and  ways  of  life  the  character  sketched  by  Paul — "blameless,  vigilant,  sober,  of  good 
behavior,  apt  to  teach,  not  given  to  filthy  lucre." 

And  second,  that  in  the  career  of  General  LEE  we  behold  the  illustration  of  these  great 
private  virtues  in  situations  always  responsible  and  often  trying  and  calamitous:  skill  and 
temperance  and  courage  in  the  field ;  discretion,  patience,  and  courtesy  in  the  council ; 
fortitude  and  dignity  in  defeat;  a  citizen  without  ambition;  a  man  without  reproach;  a 
soldier  who  commended  himself  to  the  respect  of  his  adversaries  and  to  the  admiration  of 
the  world,  lacking  nothing  which  could  add  to  his  fame  except  good  fortune.  Therefore 
l)e  it 

Resolved,  that  in  the  death  of  ROBERT  E.  LEE  the  American  people,  without  regard  to 
states  or  sections  or  antecedents  or  opinions,  lose  a  great  and  good  man,  a  distinguished 
and  useful  citizen,  renowned  not  less  in  arms  than  in  the  arts  of  peace ;  and  that  the  cause 
of  public  instruction  and  popular  culture  is  deprived  of  a  representative  whose  influence 
and  example  will  be  felt  by  the  youth  of  our  country  for  long  ages  after  the  passions  in 

9 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

the  midst  of  which  he  was  engaged,  but  which  he  did  not  share,  have  passed  into  history, 
and  the  peace  and  fraternity  of  the  American  Republic  are  cemented  and  restored  by  the 
broadest  and  purest  American  sentiment. 

Resolved,  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  forwarded  to  the  family  of  General  LEE, 
to  the  Trustees  of  Washington  College,  and  to  the  Governor  and  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Virginia. 


GENERAL   BRECKINRIDGE'S    REMARKS. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  If  from  any  cause  it  has 
been  supposed  that  I  am  to  deliver  a  set  address  to-night,  I  can  only  say 
that  I  am  not  responsible  for  the  origin  of  the  supposition.  I  am  here 
simply  to  mingle  my  grief  with  yours  at  the  loss  of  an  illustrious 
citizen.  Indeed  I  am  more  inclined  to  silence  than  to  speech ;  for  my 
mind  is  preoccupied  by  busy  memories  which  call  up  in  review  the 
frequent  and  immense  vicissitudes  which  have  marked  the  last  ten  years. 
I  find  myself  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  assemblage  of  the  people  of  this 
great  and  beautiful  city,  who  meet  together  without  distinction  of  party 
to  express  their  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  man  who  was  the  leader 
of  the  Confederate  armies  in  the  late  war  between  the  states.  This  is  in 
itself  the  omen  of  real  reunion.  I  am  not  surprised  at  such  a  spectacle 
presented  here ;  for  although  at  the  close  of  the  war  it  seemed  to  me 
from  my  distant  stand-point  that  every  element  of  anarchy  was  assembled 
within  the  bosom  of  the  commonwealth,  yet  happily,  so  great  were  the 
prudence,  moderation,  and  magnanimity  of  the  people,  the  political 
and  social  relations  in  Kentucky  will  compare  favorably  with  those  of 
other  states. 

Not  in  Kentucky  alone,  but  throughout  the  whole  South,  a  universal 
and  spontaneous  cry  of  grief  has  broken  forth  at  the  death  of  General 
LEE;  and,  to  the  honor  of  human  justice  and  charity,  in  nearly  every 
part  of  the  North  manly  and  noble  tributes  have  been  paid  to  his 
memory.  Let  us  try  to  learn  a  lesson  from  these  events. 

My  words  shall  be  brief  but  plain.  Why  is  it  that  at  the  South  we 
see  these  universal  spontaneous  demonstrations?  First,  because  most 
of  the  people  mourn  the  loss  of  an  honored  leader  and  a  friend;  but 

10 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

beyond  that,  as  it  seems  to  me,  they  embody  a  perhaps  unconscious 
protest  against  the  ascription  either  to  him  or  to  them  of  treason  or 
personal  dishonor;  a  protest  against  the  employment  by  a  portion  of 
the  public  press  of  epithets  which  have  ceased  to  be  used  in  private 
intercourse.  These  demonstrations  involve  no  vain  and  useless  repin- 
ings  at  the  result  of  the  great  struggle,  but  are  the  symbols  of  a  noble 
grief,  which  is  an  honor  to  any  people,  and  when  properly  interpreted 
they  are  an  invitation  to  reunion  and  harmony  upon  the  only  principle 
on  which  we  can  be  a  free  confederacy — a  recognition  of  the  feelings, 
the  equality,  and  the  rights  of  all.  They  are  an  invitation  to  the  whole 
people,  if  there  be  any  remaining  rancor  in  their  bosoms,  to  bury  it 
forever  in  the  grave  of  LEE. 

I  will  not  discuss  or  recall  the  past.  It  is  for  the  pen  of  the  impar 
tial  historian  to  delineate  the  causes,  progress,  and  consequences  of  the 
amazing  contest.  In  regard  to  those  who  followed  General  LEE,  sharing 
alike  his  glories  and  misfortunes,  I  have  only  this  to  say:  in  obedience 
to  their  firm  convictions  and  traditional  teachings  they  waged  a  war 
which  the  world  saw  and  yet  testifies  of;  being  overcome,  they  accepted 
the  results  of  their  defeat  and  yielded  a  calm  yet  proud  submission ;  as 
to  the  rest,  the  conquerors  themselves,  for  their  own  glory,  must  confess 
that  they  were  brave. 

Neither  am  I  here  to  speak  of  the  military  career  of  General  LEE. 
His  feats  of  arms,  in  connection  with  those  of  his  great  adversaries,  not 
only  fill  this  hemisphere,  but  in  the  Old  World  are  known  from  the 
Arctic  Circle  to  the  Cape,  and  from  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  to  the  Indian 
Ocean.  His  surviving  comrades  need  not  vaunt  the  achievements  of 
one  whose  renown  as  a  soldier  has  made  the  circuit  of  the  earth.  It  is 
of  him  as  a  man  and  a  citizen  that  I  desire  to  utter  a  few  earnest  words, 
which  are  the  less  necessary  after  the  thrilling  and  affectionate  delinea 
tions  to  which  most  of  you  listened  this  morning.  All  men  know  that 
he  was  great,  noble,  and  self-poised,  but  by  many  he  is  supposed  to  have 
been,  though  just,  yet  apathetic  and  cold;  yet  I  do  not  hesitate  to  declare 
that  the  warmth  of  his  heart  and  the  depth  of  his  affections  were,  to 
those  who  knew  him  well,  among  the  most  striking  of  his  characteristics. 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

For  the  last  year  of  the  war  it  was  my  fortune  to  be  thrown  much  with 
him,  and  during  the  two  months  immediately  preceding  the  fall  of 
Richmond  our  respective  duties  made  our  intercourse  close  and  con 
stant.  It  was  under  these  trying  circumstances  that  I  came  fully  to 
know  and  appreciate  his  heart  and  character.  In  those  long  and  painful 
interviews  he  -stood  revealed  to  me  a  considerate,  kind,  gentle,  firm, 
Christian  gentleman.  I  can  not  adequately  express  to  you  the  vast 
emotion  that  dwelt  beneath  his  calm  exterior.  I  can  convey  no  better 
idea  of  the  impression  he  made  upon  me  than  to  say  that  he  inspired 
me  with  an  ardent  love  for  his  person  and  a  profound  veneration  for  his 
character.  O,  my  friends,  it  was  so  massive,  noble,  and  grand  in  its 
proportions  that  the  most  heroic  might  be  proud  to  bear  it;  yet  so  gentle 
and  tender  that  woman  might  claim  and  adopt  it  for  her  own.  If  the 
spirit  which  animates  the  assembly  before  me  to-night  shall  become 
general  and  extend  over  the  whole  country,  then  indeed  may  we  say 
that  the  wounds  of  the  late  war  are  truly  healed.  We  ask  only  for  him 
what  we  concede  to  the  manly  qualities  of  others.  Among  the  more 
eminent  of  the  Federal  generals  who  fell  during  the  war  or  have  since 
died  may  be  mentioned  Thomas  and  McPherson.  What  Confederate 
would  refuse  to  raise  his  cap  as  their  funeral-trains  passed  by,  or  grudge 
to  drop  a  flower  upon  their  soldier-graves?  And  why?  Because  they 
were  men  of  courage  and  honor,  true  to  their  convictions  of  right,  and 
soldiers  whose  hands  were  unstained  by  cruelty  or  pillage. 

Let  us  understand  and  truly  interpret  the  causes  of  the  extraordinary 
honors  offered  by  all  ranks  of  society  and  all  shades  of  opinion  to  the 
memory  of  General  LEE.  Why  this  vast  and  mixed  audience  assembled 
to  deplore  his  loss?  Why  do  you  preside,  sir,  who  neither  shared  all 
his  convictions  nor  approved  the  methods  by  which  he  sought  to  main 
tain  them  ?  I  venture  to  answer  that  it  is  because  his  intellect  was  large 
and  sound;  because  his  heart  was  great  and  good;  because  his  piety  was 
humble  and  sincere;  because  he  ever  exhibited  fortitude  in  adversity 
and  clemency  in  victory;  because  he  was  a  stainless  gentleman;  because, 
after  the  last  supreme  effort  was  finished,  with  incomparable  dignity  and 
patience  he  taught  his  prostrate  comrades  how  to  suffer  and  be  strong; 

12 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

and  finally,  because  by  the  assemblage  in  himself  of  valor,  moderation, 
wisdom,  truth,  self-control,  and  all  their  associate  virtues,  he  was  an 
-honor  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and  presented  a  fit  model  for  the 
imitation  of  his  own  and  all  succeeding  times. 

His  future  place  in  history  is  not  doubtful.  For  a  time  there  will 
be  those  here  and  there  who,  enraged  at  beholding  the  calm  and  steady 
luster  of  his  character,  will  assail  it  with  malignant  fury;  yet  history 
will  declare  that  the  remains  which  repose  to-night  in  the  vault  beneath 
the  little  chapel  in  that  lovely  Virginia  valley  are  not  merely  those  of  a 
matchless  soldier,  but  also  of  a  great  and  good  American. 

REMARKS    OF    GENERAL  JOHN    W.  FINNELL. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  It  is  written  in  the  hearts 
of  the  brave  and  generous  in  every  land  that  in  the  august  presence  of 
death  the  rivalries  and  animosities  that  are  begotten  in  the  arena  of  busy 
life  are  remembered  no  longer.  This  vast  multitude,  representing  all 
classes  and  conditions  in  society,  has  assembled  to-night  to  give  ex 
pression  to  a  just  homage  to  the  character  of  an  illustrious  citizen. 
No  divergence  in  opinion  or  in  action  between  him  and  a  large  number 
of  those  now  here  has  operated  to  keep  them  away. 

As  the  leader  of  the  armies  of  the  South  in  the  late  fearful  civil 
war  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE  became  the  idol  of  the  people  whose  cause 
he  espoused.  Everywhere  in  all- that  land,  in  the  hour  of  defeat  as  in 
the  hour  of  victory,  the  name  of  General  LEE  was  a  tower  of  strength. 
No  disaster  dimmed  the  luster  of  his  name,  nor  did  defeat  shake  the 
confidence  of  his  followers.  There  was  a  prestige  in  his  presence  rarely 
equaled,  never  excelled,  by  that  of  any  military  leader  of  modern  times. 
Indeed  it  may  be  said  of  him, 

"  He  nothing  lacked  in  soldiership 
Except  good  fortune." 

But  it  is  not  of  his  military  career  I  would  speak.  That  is  too 
recent  and  too  familiar  to  be  dwelt  upon.  Wrong  as  I  then  and  now 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

believe  his  course  was,  no  one  doubts,  I  imagine,  that  he  acted  from  a 
clear  conviction    of   duty;    and    though    his    military   career  ended    in 
disaster  it  did  not  end  in  dishonor.     It  is,  however,  of  ROBERT  E.  LEE 
shorn  of  power,  stripped  of  the  trappings  of  war,  away  from  the  roar 
and  carnage  of  battle,  standing  out  against  the  horizon  as  a  man,  a 
Christian  gentleman,  it  is  that  view  of  him  to  which  we  may  point  our 
children ;  it  is  that  view  which  challenges  the  admiration  of  the  civilized 
world.     Great  as  he  confessedly  was  in  war,  how  infinitely  greater  was 
he  in  peace !     The  luster  of  his  military  achievements  grow  dim  before 
the  halo  that  surrounds  his  life  as  a  private  citizen.     Conscious  himself, 
as  any  one  could  be,  of  his  great  services  to  the  people  whose  battles 
he  had  fought,  he  persistently,  yet  with  modesty  and  becoming  dignity, 
put  away  from  himself  all  proffered  public  honors  and  displays.     Turn 
ing  away  from  the  field  where  defeat  had  buried  the  cause  for  which  he 
fought,  he  earnestly  but  quietly  devoted  himself  to  the  building  up  of  a 
great  institution  of  learning  in  his  native  state,  and  to  that  work  bent 
all  his  energies.     His   efforts  were   crowned  with   almost  unexampled 
success.      Hundreds   of  the  youth   of  the  land  flocked  to  his  school. 
New  life  seemed  to  be  given  to  the  soldier-teacher,  and  the  future  was 
full  of  promise  to  him  and  his  associates.     Putting  the  past  far  behind 
him,  he  embarked  in  this  enterprise  with  the  ardor  of  youth.     It  was 
there  he  fell;    on  the  threshold  of  this  new  and   most  honorable  and 
useful   career  he   was    stricken   down;    and   it  was    there    in   this   new 
career  that  the  excellences  of  his  character  shone  out  in  such  winning 
colors.     He  is  dead !    The  people  mourn :  some  of  them  as  for  an  idolized 
and  favorite  leader ;  others  for  a  cherished  but  erring  son,  yet  one  whose 
moderation  and  dignity,  whose  manly  bearing  and  Christian  forbearance, 
have  won  an  oblivion  of  the  past,  and  all  unite  in  a  sorrow  deep,  sincere, 
heartfelt.     General  LEE'S  name  and  fame  as  a  man  and  a  Christian  is  the 
rightful  inheritance  of  men  everywhere  who  love  honor,  cherish  truth, 
and  venerate  true  manhood;   it  belongs  to  no  party,  to  no  section;  it 
is  the  common  property  of  us  all. 

And,  my  fellow-citizens,  what  fitter  occasion  than  the  present — here, 
we  may  say,  in  the  presence  of  the  dead,  the  leader  of  the  armies  of  the 

14 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

South — what  fitter  occasion,  I  say,  than  this  to  offer,  here  and  now, 
upon  the  altar  our  hearts  here  build  to  the  memory  of  this  good  man 
and  Christian,  as  an  acceptable  sacrifice,  all  the  animosities,  all  the 
bitterness  and  the  heart-burnings  of  the  past,  and  dedicate,  with  one 
accord,  our  offerings  to  a  renewed  "harmony  and  concord,"  to  " peace 
and  her  victories."  And  will  not  the  incense  of  such  an  offering  reach 
the  throne  of  Him  who  proclaimed  "peace  on  earth  and  good-will  to 
men?"  Nay,  will  it  not  bring  joy  to  the  hearts  of  our  LEE,  our  Thomas, 
our  Jackson,  and  our  McPherson,  once  comrades,  then  estranged;  but, 
may  we  not  hope,  reunited  in  that  brighter,  that  better  and  more 
beautiful  land  which  lies  beyond  the  grave. 


SPEECH    OF    GENERAL    PRESTON. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  I  feel  that  it  would  be 
very  difficult  for  me  to  add  any  eulogy  to  that  which  is  contained  in  the 
resolutions  of  the  committee,  or  a  more  merited  tribute  of  praise  than 
that  which  has  already  fallen  from  the  lips  of  the  gentlemen  who  have 
preceded  me.  Yet  on  an  occasion  like  this  I  am  willing  to  come  for 
ward  and  add  a  word  to  testify  my  appreciation  of  the  great  virtues  and 
admirable  character  of  one  who  commands  not  only  our  admiration,  but 
that  of  the  entire  country.  Not  alone  of  the  entire  country,  but  his 
character  has  excited  more  admiration  in  Europe  than  among  ourselves. 
In  coming  ages  his  name  will  be  illustrious,  and  one  of  the  richest 
treasures  of  the  future.  I  speak  of  one  just  gone  down  to  death;  ripe 
in  all  the  attributes  of  manhood,  and  illustrious  by  deeds  the  most 
remarkable  that  have  occurred  in  the  history  of  America  since  its 
discovery.  It  is  now  some  two  and  twenty  years  since  I  first  made  the 
acquaintance  of  General  LEE.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  manhood  in 
Mexico,  and  I  first  saw  him  as  the  chief  engineer  of  General  Scott  in  the 
valley  of  Mexico.  I  see  around  me  two  old  comrades  who  then  knew 
General  LEE.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  personal  beauty  and  great 
grace  of  body.  He  had  a  finished  form,  delicate  hands,  and  graceful 

15 


IN-MEMORIAM. 

person,  while  here  and  there  a  gray  hair  streaked  with  its  silver  lining 
the  dark  locks  with  which  nature  had  clothed  his  noble  brow.  There 
were  discerning  minds  then  that  appreciated  his  genius  and  saw  in  him 
the  coming  captain  of  America.  His  commander  and  his  comrades 
appreciated  his  ability.  To  a  club  which  was  then  organized  he 
belonged,  together  with  General  McClellan,  General  Beauregard,  and  a 
host  of  others.  They  recognized  in  LEE  a  master-spirit. 

He  was  never  violent;  never  wrangled;  was  averse  to  quarreling, 
and  not  a  single  difficulty  marked  his  career;  but  all  acknowledged  his 
justness,  his  fortitude,  and  wonderful  evenness  of  mind.  Rare  intelli 
gence  combined  with  these  qualities  served  to  make  him  a  fit  repre 
sentative  of  his  great  prototype,  General  Washington.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  West  Point,  and  had  been  accomplished  by  every  finish 
that  a  thorough  military  education  could  bestow. 

I  remember  when  General  LEE  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel, 
at  the  same  time  that  Albert  Sydney  Johnston  was  appointed  colonel, 
and  General  Scott  thought  that  LEE  should  have  been  colonel.  I 
talked  with  General  Scott  on  the  subject  long  before  the  late  struggle 
between  the  North  and  South  took  place,  and  he  then  said  that  LEE  was 
the  greatest  living  soldier  in  America.  He  did  not  object  to  the  other 
commissions,  saying  he  thought  them  the  best  soldiers  of  the  army,  but 
he  thought  LEE  should  be  first  promoted.  Finally,  he  said  to  me  with 
emphasis:  "I  tell  you  that  if  I  were  on  my  death-bed  to-morrow, 
and  the  President  of  the  United  States  should  tell  me  that  a  great  battle 
was  to  be  fought  for  the  liberty  or  slavery  of  the  country  and  asked  my 
judgment  as  to  the  ability  of  a  commander,  I  would  say  with  my  dying 
breath  let  it  be  ROBERT  E.  LEE."  Ah!  great  soldier  that  he  was; 
princely  general  that  he  was,  he  has  fulfilled  his  mission  and  borne  it  so 
that  no  invidious  tongue  can  level  the  shafts  of  calumny  at  the  great 
character  which  he  has  left  behind  him. 

But,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  was  not  in  this  only  that  the  matchless 
attributes  of  his  character  were  found.  You  have  assembled  here  not 
so  much  to  do  honor  to  General  LEE  as  to  testify  your  appreciation 

of  the  worth  of  his  principles;    and   if  the  minds  of  this  assemblage 

16 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

were  explored  you  would  find  there  was  a  gentleness  and  grace  in  his 
character  which  had  won  your  love  and  brought  forth  testimonials 
of  universal  admiration.  Take  but  a  single  instance.  At  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg,  after  the  attack  on  the  cemetery,  when  his  troops 
were  repulsed  and  beaten,  the  men  threw  up  their  muskets  and  said: 
"General,  we  have  failed,  and  it  is  our  fault."  "  No,  my  men,"  said  he; 
"you  have  done  well.  It  is  my  fault;  I  am  to  blame,  and  no  one  but 
me."  What  man  is  there  that  would  not  have  gone  to  renewed  death 
for  such  a  leader?  So,  when  we  examine  his  whole  character,  it  is 
in  his  private  life  that  we  find  his  true  greatness :  the  Christian  sim 
plicity  of  his  character  in  his  great  veneration  for  truth ;  and  in  a  serene 
nobility  the  grand  elements  of  his  greatness.  What  man  could  have 
laid  down  his  sword  at  the  feet  of  a  victorious  general  with  greater 
dignity  than  did  he  at  Appomattox  Court-house?  He  even  in  calamity 
secured  for  his  soldiers  the  best  terms  that  fortune  would  permit.  In 
that  he  displayed  marked  greatness  seldom  shown  by  great  captains. 
After  the  battle  of  Sedan  the  wild  cries  of  the  citizens  of  Paris  went 
out  for  the  blood  of  the  Emperor;  but  at  Appomattox  veneration  and 
love  Only  shone  from  the  eyes  of  the  troops  who  looked  upon  their 
Commander. 

I  will  not  trespass  upon  your  time  much  further.  When  I  last  saw 
him  the  raven  hair  had  turned  white.  In  a  small  village  church  his 
reverent  head  was  bowed  in  prayer.  The  humblest  step  was  that  of 
ROBERT  E.  LEE  as  he  entered  the  portals  of  the  temple  erected  to  God. 
In  broken  responses  he  answered  to  the  services  of  the  church.  Noble, 
sincere,  and  humble  in  his  religion,  he  showed  forth  his  true  character 
near  the  close  of  his  life  in  laying  aside  his  sword  to  educate  the  youth 
of  his  country.  Never  did  he  appear  more  noble  than  at  that  time.  He 
is  now  gone  and  rests  in  peace.  He  has  crossed  that  mysterious  stream 
that  Stonewall  Jackson  saw  with  inspired  eyes  when  he  asked  that  he 
might  be  permitted  to  take  his  troops  across  the  river  and  forever  rest 
beneath  the  shadows  of  the  trees. 

17 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


THE  BOARD  OF  TRADE. 

The  Board  of  Trade  held  a  meeting  on  the  afternoon  of  the  I4th. 
President  J.  J.  Porter  called  the  meeting  to  order  and  stated  that  the 
object  of  the  meeting  was  to  take  appropriate  action  in  regard  to  the 
melancholy  intelligence  of  the  death  of  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE. 

Mr.  V.  P.  Armstrong  moved  that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed 
to  draft  resolutions  expressing  the  sense  of  the  Board  of  Trade  in 
regard  to  the  death  of  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE.  The  motion  was 
carried,  and  President  Porter  appointed  Messrs.  Vene  P.  Armstrong, 
Andrew  Graham,  and  E.  W.  Kennedy  as  the  committee,  who  pre 
sented  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously 
adopted : 

Whereas,  feeling  in  common  with  our  fellow- citizens  throughout  the  land  the  great  loss 
we  have  sustained  in  the  death  of  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE,  we,  as  the  Board  of  Trade  of 
this  city,  should  unite  in  the  universal  testimonial  of  sorrow  and  grief  at  the  death  of  this 
great  and  good  man;  it  is  therefore 

Resolved,  that  our  usual  business  be  suspended,  and  that  the  members  of  this  Board  be 
requested  to  assemble  at  the  Board  of  Trade  rooms  in  time  to  attend  in  a  body  upon  the 
funeral  services,  to  be  held  at  such  time  and  place  as  shall  be  designated. 

Resolved,  that  this  Board  adjourn  until  Monday  next,  at  half  past  twelve  o'clock,  P.  M., 
in  consideration  of  this  national  calamity. 

18 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


THE    PRESS. 

HENRY  WATTERSON'S  leader  in  the  "  Courier- Journal "  of  October  13,  1870. 
THE    DEAD    CHIEFTAIN. 

The  announcement  of  the  death  of  ROBERT  E.  LEE  this  morning  will 
startle  newspaper  readers  everywhere.  Although  the  event  was  fore 
shadowed  by  the  tidings  which  came  to  us  from  Lexington  a  few  days 
ago,  the  public  mind  had  taken  pause  upon  it,  and  hope  at  least  deferred 
its  realization.  The  telegram  which  this  issue  of  the  Courier-Journal 
conveys  to  the  country  ends  the  anxiety  occasioned  by  the  first  news  of 
his  illness,  and  closes  the  career  of  a  man  who  will  be  recognized  as  the 
most  eminent  of  the  contemporary  soldiers  of  America. 

We  are  quite  sure  that  we  do  not  overestimate  the  character  of 
General  LEE  or  the  place  he  will  occupy  in  the  annals  of  his  time.  We 
are  writing  late  at  night,  and  in  answer  to  a  most  unlooked-for  and  dis 
turbing  telegram;  but  we  are  conscious  of  no  sectional  or  partisan 
inspiration.  As  a  soldier  in  the  old  army,  as  the  chief  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  Confederate  army,  this  man  commended  himself  first  to  the  respect 
of  his  comrades  and  then  to  the  admiration  of  his  kind.  It  is  possible 
that  General  LEE  was  not  so  great  an  organizer  as  General  Johnston ; 
that  he  was  not  so  great  a  strategist  as  General  Jackson ;  that  he  lacked 
the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  Charles  of  Sweden  and  of  Napoleon 
Bonaparte.  He  was  certainly  not  a  Caesar  or  a  Charlemagne.  He  lived 
in  different  times;  his  lot  was  cast  in  the  midst  of  a  different  people. 
But  when  the  mind  runs  back  in  a  historic  spirit  over  the  achievements 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

that  signalized  the  genius  and  prowess  of  ancient  and  modern  warfare ; 
over  the  noble  victories  of  Alexander  and  Wellington ;  over  the  splendid 
adversities  of  Philip,  Hannibal,  and  Maurice  de  Saxe;  over  the  civic 
triumphs  of  Cromwell  and  Washington,  of  Old  Hickory  and  of  Grant; 
it  will  confess  that  ROBERT  E.  LEE  carved  out  of  fortune  for  himself  a 
place  imposing  and  exceptional.  He  was  in  every  way  a  picked  man. 
In  personal  appearance,  in  personal  endowments,  in  peculiar  qualities  of 
head  and  heart,  he  shone  conspicuous.  He  was  a  more  lovable  and  a 
more  brilliant  man  than  Washington,  at  the  same  time  that  he  com 
bined  the  moderation,  self-sacrificing  spirit,  and  directness  of  purpose 
which  dignified  and  adorned  the  character  of  the  Father  of  his  Country. 
General  LEE  was  a  most  genuine  and  undoubting  Southerner.  He  cared 
nothing  about  the  politics  of  the  Confederacy.  He  accepted  the  battle 
when  the  battle  began  without  asking  who  began  it  or  what  was  its 
source  or  object.  He  believed  it  to  be  a  fight  for  the  defense  of  his 
native  land  and  people,  and  he  fought  it  to  the  end  with  a  courage,  with 
a  skill,  with  a  patience,  with  a  humanity  which  have  been  rarely  dis 
played  by  the  commander  of  great  armies. 

Down  to  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate  forces  the  career  of  General 
LEE  was  that  of  an  eminent  officer  and  a  thoroughly  good  man.  What 
shall  be  said  of  his  conduct  since  the  surrender?  We  put  it  to  all  men, 
but  we  put  it  more  particularly  to  the  impartial  intelligence  of  the 
northern  people — and  we  put  it  as  at  once  an  emblem  and  a  hostage  ot 
southern  genius  and  valor — to  say  whether  the  history  of  the  world 
presents  another  spectacle  so  rotund  and  beautiful.  It  is  impossible 
to  do  justice  to  the  character  and  conduct  of  this  man  in  adversity; 
his  modest  bearing  and  unobtrusive  spirit;  his  patient  zeal  and  sunny 
earnestness  in  marking  out  a  pathway  for  energies  that  could  not  be 
quenched  by  sorrow  and  defeat;  his  thorough  abstinence  from  all  vain 
glorious,  entangling  public  appearances;  his  manly  self-denial  and 
graceful  recognition  of  actual  facts.  But  one  other  name  in  our  history 
bears  a  near  relationship  with  his,  and  that  the  name  of  his  kinsman, 
George  Washington.  It  is  an  honor  to  America,  and  it  ought  to  be  a 
pride  with  every  American,  to  feel  that  two  such  names  belong  to  his 


20 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

country  and  to  him,  and  are  a  part  of  the  national  heritage.  There  is 
not  a  radical  in  the  land ;  there  is  not  a  partisan  from  Cape  Cod  to  the 
Pacific  seas,  who  has  not  an  interest  in  the  fame  of  this  great  Virginian ; 
and  if  the  secret  heart  of  every  American  citizen  could  be  probed  to-day 
it  would  be  found  that  there  is  not  a  man  on  the  continent  who  will  not 
read  the  tidings  of  his  death  with  a  feeling  that  the  Republic  has  lost  a 
citizen,  not  that  the  South  has  lost  a  partisan. 

In  the  South  there  will  be  sadness  indeed;  and  as  the  demonstrations 
of  sorrow  which  will  proceed  out  of  every  hamlet  and  home  and  be 
manifested  in  every  public  place  contain  a  meaning  distinct  and  unequiv 
ocal,  it  is  proper  that  this  should  be  in  advance  made  plain.  The  country 
must  not  be  deceived  into  misconception  by  unworthy  explanations  or 
by  cunning  interpretations,  done  by  partisans  for  a  partisan  interest 
and  in  a  partisan  spirit.  The  people  of  the  South  have  a  sentiment  at 
heart  higher  even  than  their  political  well-being;  a  sentiment  that  has 
hardened  to  a  conviction ;  a  sentiment  that  has  formed  itself  down  in 
the  depths  of  every  one  of  us,  ascending  thence  like  a  monument  on 
which  the  images  of  the  past,  images  of  sorrow  and  of  glory,  images 
of  heroes  and  of  hopes,  images  of  loves  and  griefs  and  triumphs  and 
disappointments,  dear  and  blessed  images,  are  carved  in  lines  which 
can  never  be  and  ought  never  to  be  erased.  The  death  of  the  best- 
loved  Confederate  soldier  brings  us,  as  it  were,  face  to  face  with  this 
beautiful  and  sacred  but  broken  shaft  which  misfortune  has  set  up 
within  us ;  and  as  the  funeral  ceremonies,  like  torches  about  an  ancient 
grave,  lighten  the  gloom  and  disclose  the  figures  and  inscriptions,  we 
shall  not  be  misjudged  if  we  undertake  a  not  unreasoning  reassertion 
of  our  own  record,  which  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  epitomized  in  the  record 
of  ROBERT  E.  LEE. 

There  can  never  be  genuine  peace  in  this  country,  and  the  freemen 
of  the  North  can  rest  assured  that  there  will  never  be  any  genuine 
republicanism,  as  long  as  the  South  is  required,  either  by  the  national 
spirit  or  by  political  interest,  to  go  back  upon  physical  antecedents 
which  embrace  nothing  that  does  not  glorify  the  character  of  American 
manhood.  To  those  partisans,  or  rather  to  those  mercenaries,  who 


IN  MEMO  R I  AM. 


would  use  the  death  of  LEE  as  an  occasion  for  needless  assaults  upon 
the  cause  which  he  maintained  with  so  much  integrity  and  courage  we 
have  merely  to  say : 


Wolf  of  the  weald  and  yellow-footed  kite, 
Enough  is  spread  for  you  of  meaner  prey." 


We  feel  sure,  however,  that  of  this  sort  there  will  be  few  examples; 
and,  as  we  have  faith  in  the  culture   and   the    rectitude    of  the  head 
and  the  heart  of  the  South,  we  trust  largely  in  the  liberality,  the  good- 
fellowship,  and  the  just  principles  of  the  great  body  of  northern  people, 
who,   like    ourselves,   are    American    citizens,   and    ought  to   join  with 
us    and    share    with    us    in    whatever    graces    our    country.       The    old 
feudal  notions  of  treason  do  not  belong  to  our  generation  or  to  our 
institutions,  and  their  influence   on  our  mode  of  thinking  and  writing 
and  talking  about  public  affairs  is  not  essential  to  the  preservation  of 
our  unity  or  our  freedom  or  our  peace.       If  we  wish  to    secure    our 
future  we  must  regard  the  war  between  the  sections  as  a  war  of  mistakes, 
but  not  of  disgraces ;  as  a  war  over  an  open  question  which  we  could  not 
settle  by  debate,  not  a  war  in  which  all  the  right  was  arrayed  on  one  side 
and  all  the  wrong  on  the  other;  a  war  brought  about  by  misconceptions 
and  perversities  the  most  miserable  but  the  most  honest,  not  a  war  of  dis 
loyalty  here  and  of  conquest  there ;  a  war  in  which  each  party  was  terribly 
sincere;  a  war,  in  short,  which  we  may  deplore,  but  of  which  we  have  no 
reason  to  be  ashamed.     We  freely  concede  the  generosity  of  the  victo 
rious  North.     The  world  has  never  witnessed  terms  so  liberal  extended 
to  soldiers  beaten  in  civil  broil;  and  while  we  take  into  the  account  the 
manifest  interest  which   prompted  the  North   to  be   generous,  to   say 
nothing  about  the  obligations  she  owed  her  record  and  the  civilization 
of  our  epoch,  we  grudge  her  none  of  our  gratitude  and  respect.     If  the 
most  successful  of  her  soldiers  should  die  to-morrow,  as  Farragut  died 
but  yesterday— although  Grant  is  involved  in  current  and  violent  partisan 
entanglements,  and  it  is  our  daily  business  and  duty  to  show  how  he 
made  a  better  general  than  he  makes  a  president— we  should  forget  the 
wrangles  of  the  hour,  and  should  only  remember  that  when  he  won  the 


IN  MEMOR1AM. 

sword  of  LEE  he  bore  himself  like  a  gentleman  and  a  man  of  honor,  as 
we  would  have  every  American  bear  himself.  And,  standing  here  by 
the  grave  of  this  brave  Virginian,  we  say — and  we  speak  for  Davis  and 
Breckinridge  and  Buckner  and  Duke  and  Brown  of  Tennessee  and 
Forrest  and  Preston  and  a  hundred  more — that  there  is  nothing  we  ask 
for  our  hero  that  we  are  unwilling  or  unready  to  give  to  yours.  Let 
that  be  the  guarantee  of  our  fidelity  to  our  engagements  and  our  absti 
nence  from  all  warlike  revenges  when  we  add  that  we  regret  nothing 
but  our  failure,  and  that  we  shall  not  regret  that  when  the  peace  and 
liberty  of  the  Union,  purified  and  modernized  and  restored,  are  assured 
to  every  American  citizen. 

With  this  feeling  we  gather  about  the  dead  body  of  ROBERT  E. 
LEE.  He  was  the  idol  of  the  South.  The  southern  people  believed 
him  to  be  the  greatest  and  the  best  of  men;  they  followed  him  un- 
doubting  to  the  end;  and  these  ceremonies  belong  to  their  affections. 
Out  from  the  brown  woods,  down  from  the  dapple  skies,  troops  of 
fancies  come  and  go ;  fancies  that  are  all  tinted  by  sorrow  as  the  leaves 
are  tinted  by  the  season ;  melancholy  but  noble  fancies,  whose  form  and 
body  went  out  long  ago  in  the  smoke  of  disastrous  battles.  The  North 
must  deal  gently  by  these  sensibilities,  for  outside  of  our  country  civil 
ized  nations  recognize  their  justice  and  their  truth.  One  touch  of 
sorrow  makes  the  whole  world  kin.  But  this  is  a  touch  of  sorrow 
which  is  intertwisted  with  other  sorrows;  with  sorrows  unknown  and 
unseen;  the  sorrow  which  private  griefs  join  to  public  calamities  and 
national  distress.  The  tenderness  and  dignity  of  this  man;  his  beautiful 
spirit  in  the  field  and  by  the  fireside;  his  benign  yet  stately  presence ;  his 
moderation;  his  loyalty;  his  simplicity ;  the  fortunes  and  the  misfortunes 
through  which  he  passed;  all  bring  up  before  us  dear  ones  of  whom  the 
world  knows  nothing,  but  who  fought  and  fell  with  him.  This  sentiment 
is  the  more  acute  because  of  misfortune,  and  because  also  of  a  certain 
restraint  which  a  mistaken  public  policy  has  put  upon  the  discretion  of 
the  people.  There  was  an  outcropping  of  this  false  spirit  in  a  Cincinnati 
journal  when  General  LEE'S  illness  was  first  announced,  and  we  dare 
say  it  will  show  itself  elsewhere,  for  good  feeling  is  not  universal. 

23 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

The  representative  journals  of  the  North  should  put  it  down.  It  is  not 
worthy  the  people  who  are  most  truly  represented  when  represented  by 
the  magnanimity  of  Horace  Greeley  and  the  gentle  charity  of  John 
Greenleaf  Whittier. 

Readers  of  Philip  Van  Artevelde  will  remember  that  after  the  great 
Ghentish  leader  was  slain  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  wished  the  body  to 
be  nailed  to  a  tree  that  all  might  see  it.  There  are  those  who  would 
thus  hang  up  the  effigy  of  the  great  Virginian.  But  the  rebuke  of  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy  to  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  is  the  reply  of  the  genuine 
soldier  as  we  believe  it  to  be  the  sense  of  the  great  body  of  the  northern 
people : 

" No,  brother,  no; 

It  were  not  for  our  honor,  nor  the  King's, 
To  use  it  so.     Dire  rebel  though  he  was, 
Yet  with  a  noble  nature  and  great  gifts 
Was  he  endowed — courage,  discretion,  zeal, 
An  equal  temper  and  an  ample  soul, 
Rock-bound  and  fortified  against  assaults 
Of  transitory  passion ;  but  below, 
Built  on  a  surging,  subterraneous  fire, 
That  stirred  and  lifted  him  to  high  attempts. 
So  prompt  and  capable  and  yet  so  calm, 
He  nothing  lack'd  in  soldiership 
Except  good  fortune. 

Wherefore  with  honor  lay  him  in  his  grave, 
And  thereby  shall  increase  of  honor  come 
Unto  their  arms  who  vanquished  one  so  wise, 
So  valiant,  so  renowned." 

This,  it  seems  to  us,  is  the  spirit  for  the  North,  and  we  believe  it 
to  be  the  spirit  of  the  North.  Upon  our  faith  in  it  we  ground  not  only 
the  liberalism  with  which  we  are  credited,  but  our  confidence  in  the 
future  of  our  country;  and  as  we  look  forward  to  nothing  but  the 
national  life  and  the  national  union,  made  free  to  all  men,  we  claim  the 
right  to  look  back  with  pride  upon  the  war  record  of  the  South  and 
to  honor  its  warriors.  There  must  be  no  proscription  in  this  land  of 
ours.  We  are  too  young  a  people  to  allow  Old-world  feudalism  to 
creep  into  our  dialect,  much  less  into  our  system;  and  as  we  pretend 

24 


IN  MEMOKIAM. 

to  be  free  ourselves,  we  can  not  afford  to  allow  the  enslavement  or  the 
degradation  of  any  class.  The  North  must  not  seek  to  subdue  the 
spirit  of  the  South,  and  the  South  must  seek  to  elevate  the  spirit  of 
that  element  which  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  us  all  to  protect  unto 
the  end  that  a  new  compact  may  form  itself  out  of  our  reason  and  our 
better  nature,  and  not  out  of  the  avarice  of  political  interest  and  the 
ignorance  of  popular  passion. 

Thus  shall  our  trials  be  merely  the  tests  of  our  virtue;  thus  shall 
our  losses  turn  to  glorious  uses ;  thus  shall  we  make  the  present 
tolerable  by  tolerance,  and  so 

"Enrich  the  time  to  come  with  smooth-faced  peace, 
With  smiling  plenty,  and  fair,  prosperous  days." 


From  the  "Louisville  Commercial,"  October  15,  1870. 
HONORS  TO  GENERAL  LEE. 

The  funeral  of  General  LEE  will  take  place  to-day,  and  all  through 
the  South  evidences  of  respect  for  his  memory  and  of  the  affection  in 
which  he  was  held  by  the  southern  people  will  be  exhibited  by  a 
general  suspension  of  business  and  special  commemorative  services. 
This  was  to  be  expected.  That  the  people  of  the  South  should  revere 
the  great  soldier  who  stood  their  main  bulwark  for  so  many  years  of  war 
is  no  more  than  natural ;  anything  less  from  them  would  savor  some 
what  of  ingratitude.  The  regret  to  which  such  general  expression  will 
be  given  to-day  is  beyond  doubt  deep  and  sincere.  The  same  qualities 
that  made  his  soldiers  love  and  revere  him  won  for  General  LEE  the 
warm  and  affectionate  regard  of  the  people  of  his  section.  He  was 
eminently  a  man  to  attract  them.  Of  an  old  and  distinguished  family, 
of  high  social  position,  of  magnificent  physique,  of  the  purest  private 
character,  thoroughly  accomplished  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman, 
brilliant  as  a  man,  and  their  most  conspicuous  general  in  a  struggle  in 

25 


IN  MEMO RI AM. 

which  all   their  sympathies  were  aroused,  it  is   no  wonder  that  they 
mourn  his  death. 

The  demonstration  in  Louisville  will  be  as  marked  as  elsewhere. 
It  is  creditable  to  the  mayor  and  to  the  gentlemen  who  have  taken  a 
leading  part  in  inaugurating  the  proceedings  to  be  had  here  that  they 
have  studiously  endeavored  to  divest  them,  as  far  as  possible,  of  all 
sectional  and  political  bias.  It  would  be  well  for  the  country  if  the 
heart-burnings  and  dissensions  to  which  the  war  gave  rise  could  be 
buried  out  of  sight  in  the  graves  of  the  great  leaders  who  are  passing 
one  by  one  from  among  us,  and  the  disposition  shown  here  by  those 
most  anxious  to  do  General  LEE  honor  will,  we  believe,  tend  to  that 
result.  It  is  no  fault  of  theirs  that  it  is  impossible  to  go  as  far  in  that 
direction  as  they  show  a  desire  to  go.  General  LEE  is  too  essentially 
a  representative  man  for  that.  His  private  character  has  always  com 
manded  the  respect  of  the  nation,  and  that  feeling  has  been  heightened 
by  the  eminent  propriety  of  his  conduct  since  the  close  of  the  war. 
Therefore  those  who  condemned  his  course  most  bitterly  can  on  this 
day,  when  dust  returns  to  dust  again,  pay  to  his  memory  the  tribute  of 
silence  about  his  great  fault.  In  the  midst  of  ceremonies  in  his  honor 
by  those  who  love  him  for  his  deeds  as  well  as  for  himself,  more  should 
not  be  asked  of  those  who  disapprove  much  that  he  did  all  the  more 

because  it  was  he  who  did  it. 

26 


7Ar  MEMORIAM. 


EX-CONFEDERATE    SOLDIERS. 


As  soon  as  advised  of  General  LEE'S  death  a  number  of  Confederate 
soldiers  residing  in  the  city  held  a  meeting  at  the  Louisville  Hotel,  to 
take  appropriate  action  in  relation  thereto.  Committees  were  appointed 
to  wait  upon  the  General  Council  and  request  the  cooperation  of  the 
city  in  making  arrangements  for  the  proper  observance  of  the  funeral ; 
to  request  the  citizens  to  close  their  houses  of  business;  to  request  the 
ministers  of  all  the  churches  in  the  city  to  have  their  church-bells  tolled, 
and  order  other  ceremonies  appropriate  and  proper;  and  to  suggest  to 
the  Chief  of  the  Fire  Department  that  the  fire-bells  be  tolled  during  the 
funeral  services. 

A  special  meeting  was  called  for  the  evening  of  October  I3th,  at 
the  court-house,  and  a  committee  instructed  to  duly  extend  notices  of 
the  fact. 

At  the  night  meeting  the  attendance  was  large.  The  meeting  was 
called  to  order  by  Major  Clinton  McClarty,  who  announced  that  it  was 
a  meeting  adjourned  from  the  morning,  and  that  arrangements  would  be 
perfected  to  testify  the  soldiers'  regard  for  their  late  Commander. 

On  motion,  Rev.  W.  H.  Platt  was  requested  to  deliver  a  funeral 
oration  at  eleven  o'clock  on  the  morrow  at  St.  Paul's  Church. 

A  committee  appointed  to  notify  Mr.  Platt  of  the  appointment  soon 
reported  his  acceptance.  It  was  decided  to  attend  the  funeral  services 
as  a  body  in  procession. 

A  meeting  was  appointed  for  Monday  night  at  Masonic  Temple, 
and  the  following-named  gentlemen  instructed  to  report  appropriate 
resolutions:  Messrs.  P.  B.  Scott,  S.  B.  Buckner,  W.  L.  Jackson, 
B.  W.  Duke,  and  Wm.  J.  Davis. 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

On  the  night  of  October  i/th  the  following  resolutions  were  reported 
by  the  committee  and  adopted : 

Whereas,  it  has  pleased  God  to  call  from  the  field  of  his  usefulness  the  patriot-soldier, 
the  accomplished  gentleman,  and  the  exemplary  Christian,  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE  : 

Resolved,  that  we,  formerly  soldiers  in  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  States,  while  bowing 
in  humility  to  the  dispensations  of  an  all-wise  Providence,  can  not  restrain  the  utterances  of 
our  sorrow  at  the  affliction  which  has  thus  suddenly  befallen  us  in  the  death  of  our  late  beloved 
Commander. 

Resolved,  that  in  the  character  of  General  ROBERT  E.  LEE,  whether  he  be  viewed  as  a 
soldier  battling  for  the  right,  as  a  citizen  unobtrusively  pursuing  the  useful  paths  of  civil  life, 
or  as  a  Christian  gentleman,  'furnishing  in  his  acts  an  example  for  our  imitation,  we  recognize 
that  type  of  true  greatness,  so  complete  in  itself  that  the  highest  station  could  not  add  to  its 
luster,  and  so  exalted  that  it  claims  the  admiration  of  mankind  and  commands  the  love  and 
reverence  of  all  who  have  followed  him  in  his  illustrious  career. 

Resolved,  that,  while  giving  imperfect  expression  to  our  sorrow,  we  extend  to  the  afflicted 
family  of  our  deceased  Commander  our  heartfelt  sympathies  in  their  bereavement;  for,  while 
the  world  has  lost  an  ornament  of  which  civilization  should  be  proud,  they  have  been  suddenly 
bereft  of  one  whose  daily  life  was  an  exemplification  of  the  imperishable  virtues  which  dignify 
human  nature  and  beautify  and  make  sacred  the  influences  of  home. 

Resolved,  that,  as  a  testimonial  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  one  we  loved  so  well  while 
living,  we  wear  the  customary  badge  of  mourning  during  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  that  the  chairman  of  this  meeting  transmit  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  to  the 
family  of  our  late  beloved  General. 

Resolved,  that  in  the  transmission  of  these  resolutions  the  chairman  of  this  meeting  be 
requested  to  accompany  the  same  with  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Lee  expressive  of  the  sense  of  peculiar 
personal  sorrow  felt  by  his  soldiers  in  view  of  the  death  of  General  LEE. 


LETTER    ACCOMPANYING   THE    RESOLUTIONS. 

LOUISVILLE,    OCTOBER,     1870. 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  At  a  meeting  of  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  late 
Confederate  army,  now  residing  in  this  city,  over  which  I  was  recently 
called  to  preside,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  your  father,  General 
ROBERT  E.  LEE,  certain  resolutions  were  adopted  which  I  was  directed 
in  their  behalf  to  transmit  to  his  family.  A  copy  of  these  resolutions 
you  will  find  inclosed. 

In  discharging  this  sad  duty  I  trust  you  will  permit  me  to  say  that, 

amidst  the  universal  evidences  of  admiration  and  respect  shown  by  the 

28 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

whole  country  for  the  character  of  General  LEE,  we,  once  his  soldiers 
and  officers,  heard  the  intelligence  with  profound  sorrow.  Around  the 
great  and  good  soldier  whose  death  we  deplore  the  strongest  convic 
tions  of  patriotic  duty  and  the  noblest  hopes  of  freemen  once  clustered. 
Animated  by  his  genius,  we  bore  every  privation  with  fortitude;  with 
him  memories  of  great  victories  and  glorious  deeds  in  arms  are  insep 
arably  associated;  and  the  dignity  of  his  life,  undejected  by  calamity, 
yet  inspires  in  our  hearts  that  constant  love  which  adversity  never 
diminished  and  death  now  consecrates. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain,  with  the  deepest  sympathy  and  respect, 

your  obedient  servant. 

W.  PRESTON. 

General  CUSTIS  LEE,  Lexington,  Virginia. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  collect  and  publish  in  appropriate 
form  the  various  tributes  of  respect  offered  to  the  memory  of  General 
ROBERT  E.  LEE  by  the  citizens  of  Louisville. 


SPEECH    OF    GENERAL    PRESTON. 

FRIENDS  AND  COMRADES:  The  honor  is  deeply  appreciated  by  me  of 
being  called  upon  to  preside  over  you  this  evening  for  the  solemn  pur 
pose  of  declaring  our  sorrow  at  the  death  of  General  LEE.  Amidst  the 
general  regret  of  the  people,  I  trust  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to 
observe  that  the  sentiment  created  among  us,  who  were  once  his  soldiers 
and  officers,  must  be  naturally  deeper  than  the  general  admiration  and 
respect  of  men  not  so  intimately  associated  with  him  during  his  life. 
It  is  true  that  we  unite  with  all  who  admire  heroic  deeds  and  gentle 
virtues  in  testifying  our  reverence  and  love  for  ROBERT  LEE;  but  his 
loss  must  come  more  poignantly  to  us  who  erewhile  followed  his 
standard,  but  now  lament  his  death.  It  is  therefore  right  that  we  should 
in  this  separate  meeting  testify  our  love  and  respect  for  the  dead.  In 

another  aspect  it  is  proper.     The  military  career  of  General  LEE  was 

29 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

illustrious  by  his  deeds,  but  his  life  closed  in  adversity.  Its  shadows 
have  not  obscured  his  fame;  and  we,  in  offering  the  heartfelt  homage  of 
our  love  and  veneration,  are  not  only  consoled  but  encouraged  by  his 
course  to  imitate  his  great  and  good  example. 

ROBERT  LEE  was  fitted  both  by  birth  and  education  for  a  renowned 
career.  His  family  was  distinguished  by  its  intelligence,  courage,  and 
patriotism,  and  rendered  eminent  service  in  the  Revolution  which 
separated  the  colonies  from  England.  He  inherited  not  only  these 
ancestral  virtues,  but  nature  endowed  him  with  a  form  of  great  sym 
metry  and  beauty  and  a  mind  of  rare  excellence.  The  benevolence  of 
his  disposition  gave  to  his  manners  a  polished  and  courtly  grace  which 
harmonized  wonderfully  with  his  serene  and  elevated  character.  He  was 
closely  connected  with  the  family  of  Washington,  and  was  the  nearest 
representative  of  the  illustrious  Father  of  his  Country.  LEE  inherited 
the  moral  virtues  and  lofty  principles  of  the  great  Virginian,  and  his 
natural  abilities  were  strengthened  by  a  thorough  military  education  at 
West  Point,  where  he  excelled  his  associates  and  stood  first  among  his 
classmates.  He  was  from  early  youth  distinguished  by  unblemished 
morals,  and  a  sincere  and  unaffected  piety  gave  a  matchless  grace  and 
dignity  to  the  man. 

Such  was  LEE  in  Mexico,  when  he  first  became  widely  known  as  the 
chief  engineer  upon  the  staff  of  General  Scott.  His  talents,  his  pro 
fessional  attainments,  and  his  sincere  character  gave  him  great  influence 
among  his  brother  officers,  so  that,  without  seeming  to  desire  to  sway 
any  opinions,  no  mind  in  the  army  exerted  greater  influence  over  the 
soldiery.  The  General  confided  in  him  absolutely,  and  that  confidence 
was  justified  by  the  brilliant  services  he  rendered.  It  may  indeed  be  said 
that  his  aid  was  essential  to  General  Scott;  that  in  a  great  measure  the 
triumphs  of  our  arms  in  the  valley  of  Mexico  may  be  attributed  to  his 
skill ;  and  that  our  acquisition  of  the  golden  coast  of  the  Pacific  is  the 
offspring  of  his  genius. 

It  is  well  known  among  his  comrades  and  friends  that  General  LEE 
at  the  commencement  of  the  war  between  the  states  was  reluctant  to 
take  up  arms;  he  hoped  to  avoid  the  fearful  alternative  of  civil  war; 

30 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

but  when  his  native  state,  Virginia,  finding  her  territory  was  to  be 
invaded,  declared  her  separation  from  the  Federal  Union,  true  to  his 
convictions  of  honor,  patriotism,  and  duty,  he  drew  his  sword  for  her 
defense.  At  that  time  the  talents  and  attainments  of  LEE  were  so 
highly  appreciated  that  it  may  be  said  it  was  within  his  choice  to  com 
mand  either  the  Federal  or  Confederate  army.  I  have  heard  it  related, 
and  believe  it  true,  that  about  that  time  General  Scott  used  all  his 
influence  to  induce  General  LEE  to  remain  in  the  Federal  service.  An 
old  friendship  and  strong  affection  existed  between  them,  cemented 
by  their  former  intimacy  in  Mexico.  At  that  period  General  Scott 
possessed  great  power  and  control  in  the  government.  He  had  devoted 
himself  ardently  to  the  cause  of  the  Union ;  and  his  counsels  in  the  first 
moments  of  irresolution  had  given  purpose,  plan,  and  nerve  to  the 
alarmed  administration.  He  urged  General  LEE  by  every  induce 
ment  that  could  fire  the  ambition  of  a  soldier  and  by  every  persuasion 
friendship  could  suggest  to  remain  in  the  Federal  army,  assuring  him 
that  it  would  be  placed  under  his  supreme  command;  but  all  was  in 
vain.  LEE  with  gentle  dignity  arose  and  said,  "Ah!  General,  would 
you,  my  friend,  who  know  me  so  well,  think  to  tempt  me?"  and  left 
him  forever. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  upon  an  occasion  like  the  present,  to  examine 
or  eulogize  the  military  genius  displayed  by  General  LEE  in  the  cam 
paigns  in  Virginia.  The  historian  may  hereafter  record  and  the  student 
read  the  annals  of  the  war,  in  which  the  small  and  badly  equipped 
armies  of  the  Confederacy  defeated  and  humiliated  for  four  years  the 
multitudinous  hosts  of  their  enemies.  The  motives,  the  sacrifices,  the 
sufferings,  and  the  splendid  victories  of  a  brave  people  will  yet  be 
commemorated  by  learning  and  genius;  but  the  events  are  too  recent 
and  the  animosities  too  great  to  permit  the  facts  to  be  considered  in  our 
time  with  impartiality  or  profit.  An  occasion  like  this  should  therefore 
teach  us  to  give  repose  to  such  recollections,  for  the  life  of  our  great 
leader  gives  us  an  instructive  example  for  our  imitation.  But  while 
we  feel  the  force  of  such  reasons,  on  the  other  hand  we  must  not  by  an 
over-haste  to  propitiate  favor  or  avert  oppression  do  aught  that  may  be 

31 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

in  violation  of  our  own  self-respect.  Governed,  in  my  belief,  by  as  pure 
and  noble  motives  as  ever  warmed  the  souls  of  freemen,  we  engaged  in 
a  dreadful  and  unequal  war.  In  the  mighty  struggle  we  lost  our  worldly 
wealth,  but  not  our  honor.  No  enemy,  however  malevolent,  can  truth 
fully  say  that  we  tamely  relinquished  our  rights,  or  ever  retreated  before 
an  equal  force,  or  stained  our  victories  by  cruelty.  When  our  General 
at  Appomattox  capitulated  to  five-fold  his  force  the  soldiers,  without 
fear,  flight,  or  disorder,  and  without  murmur  or  reproach,  grounded 
forever  their  arms  at  the  order  of  their  beloved  Commander.  Since  that 
momentous  day  let  the  world  attest  the  patience,  the  honor,  and  the 
fidelity  with  which  all  have  observed  the  terms  of  surrender.  The  men, 
though  abandoning  forever  many  cherished  hopes,  consecrated  by  the 
lives  of  friends,  kindred,  and  countrymen  upon  the  battle-field,  and  by 
their  own  blood,  so  often  and  freely  shed,  laid  down  their  arms  and 
passed  into  the  quiet  pursuits  of  civil  life.  The  General  devoted  at  once 
his  whole  time  to  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  country.  Both  he 
and  they  by  their  industry  and  resignation  and  fortitude  have  given  an 
example  of  a  brave  and  dreaded  army  passing  from  war  to  peace  without 
tumult,  robbery,  pillage,  or  the  disorders  following  a  long  and  bloody 
war,  such  as  have  been  usual  in  disbanding  great  bodies  of  armed  men. 
Their  conduct  has  no  parallel  in  history.  The  troops  were  animated  by 
the  truthful  soul  of  their  General ;  and  he  was  strengthened  and  sup 
ported  by  the  noble  spirit  of  his  soldiers.  Throughout  the  country  the 
same  feeling  governed  our  people.  I  see  around  me  now,  I  behold 
every  day  in  the  streets,  men  in  the  apparel  of  mechanics,  or  engaged 
in  humble  avocations,  who  were  once  wealthy,  and  in  the  war  often  led 
serried  battalions  to  victory.  Their  lands  have  been  confiscated,  their 
homes  burned,  their  kindred  slain;  but  no  craven  murmur  is  uttered,  no 
unmanly  repining,  no  vindictive  threat  spoken ;  but  we  see  them  assem 
bled  here,  and  throughout  the  suffering  South,  with  no  language  but 
that  of  love  and  veneration  for  our  lamented  chief.  O,  great  General, 
but  still  greater  soldiers,  it  is  not  your  chiefs  who  have  given  valor, 
fortitude,  and  renown  to  you,  but  you  who  have  supported,  sustained, 
and  consoled  your  leaders.  Our  great  chief,  alas !  is  no  more,  and  we 

32 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

lament  him  as  soldiers  should  mourn  for  such  a  general;  but  even  in  his 
death  he  has  given  us  a  priceless  consolation,  for  no  Promethean  moan 
escaped  the  lips  of  LEE  while  living,  but  he  sunk  to  death  shrouded  in 
silence,  mutely  witnessing  the  unappealing  sufferings  of  his  people. 
Let  us  then,  dear  friends  and  comrades,  profit  by  the  impressive  lesson 
of  his  brave  and  pure  life,  and  let  our  people  thoughtfully  remember  his 
eloquent  silence  and  sublime  fortitude  under  mighty  trials. 

I  have  said  that  ROBERT  E.  LEE  has  passed  the  great  ordeal  of  life 
with  steadfast  courage  to  the  grave;  but  it  may  be  further  said  that 
neither  he  nor  the  people  of  the  South  could  have  borne  themselves  so 
greatly  under  their  misfortunes  by  virtue  and  courage  alone.  The 
Christian  faith  lent  to  our  General  its  mighty  aid.  The  dying  Bayard 
in  his  last  hour  gazed  upon  the  cross  upon  his  sword  hilt  to  strengthen 
his  knightly  soul  before  he  passed  the  mysterious  portals  of  death ;  but 
our  LEE  followed  the  Cross  in  early  youth,  in  mature  manhood,  and  in 
old  age,  in  victory  or  defeat,  in  war  and  peace,  with  humble  and  rever 
ential  tread,  and  bore  it  to  the  grave.  The  glories  of  his  victories  pale 
before  the  luster  of  his  faith,  and  the  splendors  of  his  genius  before  the 
light  of  his  virtues.  Hereafter  posterity  will  erect  a  monument  of 
bronze  or  marble  to  commemorate  the  deeds  and  victories  of  the  great 
Captain  of  America,  and  upon  it,  not  inappropriately,  might  be  inscribed 
some  simple  and  half-forgotten  lines,  chiseled  upon  the  grave-stone  of 
an  old  soldier,  which  linger  in  my  memory: 

"When  I  was  young  I  shed  my  youthful  blood 
On  foughten  fields  for  my  dear  country's  good ; 
When  I  was  old  I  only  sought  to  be 
Soldier  for  Him  who  shed  His  blood  for  me." 
33 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


OBSEQUIES. 

In  the  morning  papers  of  the  I5th  instant  appeared  the  subjoined 
notices : 

MAYOR'S  OFFICE,  LOUISVILLE,  KY.,  October  15,  1870. 
70  the  Citizens  of  Louisville  : 

I  would  recommend  that  our  citizens  unite  in  paying  a  just  and  suitable  tribute  of 
respect  to  the  memory  of  the  late  General  ROHERT  E.  LEE  by  closing  their  places  of 
business  to-day  during  the  time  devoted  to  his  funeral  obsequies,  between  the  hours  of 
eleven  A.  M.  and  two  P.  M.  It  is  requested  that  the  church-bells  be  tolled  during  those 
hours,  as  will  be  the  case  with  the  bells  of  the  engine-houses.  I  think  that  such  an 
expression  of  respect  may  very  properly  be  manifested  by  our  whole  community  without 
doing  violence  to  any  political  or  party  feeling.  We  should  simply  view  the  deceased  as 
an  upright  American  citizen,  against  whose  private  character  there  was  no  reproach,  and 
whose  many  Christian  virtues  and  eminent  qualities  of  mind  distinguished  him  as  one  of 

the  great  men  of  the  nation. 

JOHN  G.  BAXTER,  Mayor. 

The  committee  of  arrangements  appointed  at  the  Confederate  meet 
ing  issued  this  notice: 

The  telegraph  having  conveyed  the  intelligence  that  the  funeral  of  the  late  General 
R.  E.  LEE  will  take  place  to-day  at  Lexington,  Va.,  all  business  men  of  the  city  are  requested, 
in  accordance  with  previous  arrangements,  to  close  their  respective  places  of  business  at  ten 
o'clock  A.  M.  for  the  day,  through  respect  for  the  illustrious  dead.  The  bells  of  the  city 

will  be  tolled  from  six  A.  M.  to  six  P.  M. 

\V.  F.  BEASLEY, 

J.  M.  KENNARD, 
CHARLES  SEMPLE. 

The  special  committee  of  ex-Confederate  soldiers  issued  the  follow 
ing  order  for  the  procession  to  St.  Paul's  Church. 

In  accordance  with  a  resolution  passed  at  the  meeting  of  ex-Confederate  soldiers  on  the 
evening  of  the  I3th  October  to  take  action  in  reference  to  the  death  of  General  R.  E.  LEE, 

34 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

all  ex-Confederate  soldiers  are  hereby  requested  to  meet  at  eleven  o'clock  this  morning  in 
front  of  the  court-house.  They  will  there  form  in  procession  and  proceed  to  St.  Paul's 
Church,  where  a  funeral  oration  will  be  pronounced  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Platt,  at  half  past 
eleven  o'clock  A.  M.,  which  corresponds  with  the  hour  of  the  services  in  Lexington.  It  is 
particularly  requested  that  each  ex-Confederate  soldier  will  provide  himself  with  crape  for 
the  left  arm,  as  a  badge  of  mourning  for  our  deceased  leader.  The  public  generally  are 
invited  to  the  services. 

The  following  named  gentlemen  are  charged  with  the  proper  formation  of  the  procession 
and  its  order  of  march:  B.  W.  Duke,  chief  marshal;  James  M.  Kennard,  W.  F.  Beasley, 
J.  L.  House,  H.  G.  Evans,  John  B.  Castleman,  and  C.  F.  Billingsley,  assistant  marshals. 

S.    B.    BUCKNER, 

J.  P.  JOHNSON, 
CHARLES  SEMPLE. 


The  flags  on  all  the  city  buildings,  steamboats,  newspaper  offices, 
etc.,  were  placed  at  half-mast;  business  was  generally  suspended;  the 
courts  adjourned;  the  three  medical  schools,  the  law  schools,  and  other 
public  institutions  took  a  recess ;  there  was  every  external  token  of  a 
general  sorrow,  of  a  universal  appreciation  of  the  great  Virginian,  and 
of  the  loss  which  the  world  sustained  in  his  death. 

By  eleven  o'clock  the  roar  of  business  had  subsided  to  a  sabbath- 
day  stillness,  broken  only  by  the  solemn  tolling  of  the  bells.  The  eye 
caught  on  every  side  long  vistas  of  streets  festooned  with  funeral 
drapery;  pictures  of  the  dead  hero,  decked  with  flowers  and  symbols 
of  mourning,  could  be  seen  at  every  turn,  surrounded  by  groups  of 
citizens  speaking  in  subdued  tones  and  bearing  on  their  faces  the  impress 
of  a  sorrowful  veneration,  such  perhaps  as  the  faces  of  our  fathers  wore 
when  Washington  died.  From  the  portals  of  LEE'S  tomb,  where  good 
men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  bowed  their  heads  in  sincere  reverence, 
the  spirit  of  party  shrunk  abashed.  The  honors  paid  to  his  memory 
in  this  city  were  confined  to  no  party — men  of  all  shades  of  opinion 
united  in  a  spontaneous  tribute  to  the  goodness  of  a  great  man. 

St.  Paul's  Episcopal  Church  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity.  The 
ex-Confederate  soldiers,  about  one  thousand  in  number,  with  the  badge 
of  mourning  on  their  left  arm,  filed  into  the  church  with  heads  and 
hearts  bowed  down  with  sorrow  for  the  fallen  Chieftain  whom  they 
had  all  loved  so  well,  and  took  position  in  front  of  the  altar  and  in 

35 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

the  aisles.  The  church  was  heavily  draped  in  black.  Every  one  of 
the  vast  assemblage  seemed  imbued  with  the  solemnity  of  the  occa 
sion.  The  sound  of  the  tolling  bells,  muffled  by  the  massive  walls  of 
the  church,  fell  upon  the  ears  of  the  vast  crowd  with  a  mournful 
cadence.  When  the  minister  entered  the  pulpit  to  begin  the  sad  rites 
the  congregation  was  hushed  as  with  the  stillness  of  death.  The 
services  were  the  regular  burial  services  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  were  precisely  the  same  as  those  performed  over  the  remains  of 
the  illustrious  dead  at  Lexington,  Virginia. 

Never  before  was  the  solemn  grandeur  of  the  burial  service  so 
deeply  impressed  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  hearers.  The 
great  grief  of  the  people  gave  every  sentence  a  painful  interest. 

The  services  opened  with  the  funeral  anthem,  taken  from  the  thirty- 
ninth  and  nintieth  Psalms. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  anthem  Rev.  Mr.  Perkins,  Rector  of  St. 
Paul's  Church,  read,  in  an  impressive  manner,  the  usual  lesson  from 
I  Cor.  xv.  The  choir  then  sang  this 

HYMN. 

As  o'er  the  past  my  memory  strays, 

Why  heaves  the  secret  sigh? 
'T  is  that  I  mourn  departed  days, 

Still  unprepared  to  die. 

The  world  and  worldly  things  beloved, 

My  anxious  thoughts  employed; 
And  time,  unhallowed,  unimproved, 

Presents  a  fearful  void. 

Yet,  Holy  Father,  wild  despair 

Chase  from  my  laboring  breast; 
Thy  grace  it  is  which  prompts  the  prayer, 

That  grace  can  do  the  rest. 

My  life's  brief  remnant  shall  be  Thine, 

And  when  Thy  sure  decree 
Bids  me  this  fleeting  breath  resign, 

O  speed  my  soul  to  Thee. 
36 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


DISCOURSE    OF    REV.  W.  H.  PLATT. 

"Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen  this  day  in 
Israel?"     (2  Samuel  iii,  38.) 

The  intelligence  of  the  death  of  ROBERT  E.  LEE  has  flashed  over 
the  world  and  millions  of  hearts  are  in  mourning.  Around  the  bier 
of  this  great  man  how  many  august  memories  start  and  linger!  The 
curtain  of  a  deepening  oblivion  is  drawn  aside,  and  the  panorama  of  the 
solemn  past  moves  mournfully  before  the  saddened  vision  of  the  soul. 
The  scroll  of  the  illustrious  dead  is  again  unrolled  to  our  remembrance 
and  the  pantheon  of  our  memory  is  again  crowded  with  the  martial 
forms  of  fame's  immortal  heroes.  The  southern  people  love  their  living 
and  honor  the  memory  of  their  dead  defenders.  Submissive  though 
they  are  to  the  award  of  war's  awful  arbitrament,  yet  mothers,  like 
Niobe,  still  weep  for  their  sons  that  are  not,  and  upon  the  streets  are 
silent  mourners  with  the  tonnage  upon  their  hearts  of  sorrow  that  will 
not  away.  But,  however  universal  in  every  household  is  this  affliction 
at  deaths  in  the  past,  to-day  we  bury  one  whose  departure,  by  special 
preeminence,  leaves  a  sublime  vacancy  in  the  brotherhood  of  men. 
He  was  a  representative  character  on  the  best  and  grandest  side  of 
humanity.  Leadership  in  momentous  issues  is  a  high  responsibility; 
but  to  lead  magnanimously,  with  a  firm  will  and  a  humane  policy,  when 
terrific  passions  swept  a  divided  people  with  their  consuming  fires,  and 
never  to  forget  the  lofty  duties  inspired  by  an  advanced  civilization, 
demanded  those  exceptional  virtues  which  are  seen  only  in  the  hero 
of  the  age.  As  I  write  my  eye  falls  upon  an  editorial  in  a  northern 
paper,  which,  as  a  summary  of  campaigns,  and  for  a  frank,  honest,  just 
concession  to  historic  truth,  and  a  freedom  from  partisan  spleen,  does 
high  credit  to  the  head  and  the  heart  of  the  writer.  He  says : 

"The  death  of  General  LEE  will  bring  everywhere  tributes  to  his  military  genius.     There 
are  few  events  in  all  history  more  striking  than  his  defense  of  Richmond  from   1861   to   1865. 
With  an  army  which  was  not  one  third,  and  during  most  of  the  time  one  quarter,  as  large  as 
D  37 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

the  forces  of  his  enemy,  and  ill  supplied  with  munitions  of  war,  he  covered  the  Confederate 
capital  successfully  and  bade  defiance  to  all  assailants.  Army  after  army,  abundantly  supplied 
and  splendidly  equipped,  were  hurled  against  him,  only  to  be  badly  defeated  and  thrown  back 
on  their  resources.  He  destroyed  McClellan  on  the  Peninsula  in  July,  1862.  He  beat  Pope 
in  August  at  Bull  Run.  In  December,  1862,  he  routed  Burnside  at  Fredericksburg.  In  1863 
he  overwhelmed  Hooker  at  Chancellorsville  and  gained  a  most  unparalleled  victory.  From 
May  to  November,  1864,  his  army  killed  and  wounded  more  of  Grant's  troops  than  he  had 
men,  and  the  former  could  never  have  entered  the  metropolis  of  Virginia  had  it  not  been 
for  the  successes  of  Sherman  on  another  line  of  operations.  Although  Richmond  is  but  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  Washington — not  further  than  Columbus  is  from  Cincinnati — 
although  it  is  near  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and  to  the  great  centers  of  northern  population, 
yet  for  forty-eight  months  with  from  50,000  to  70,000  men  he  bade  all  the  efforts  of  250,000 
soldiers  defiance.  This  shows  he  had  military  skill  of  the  highest  order.  He  was  the  Ajax 
of  the  South.  For  years  his  army,  and  his  army  alone,  stood  between  them  and  destruction. 
When  he  surrendered,  and  not  until  then,  was  the  contest  lost.  His  genius  was  not  perhaps 
so  well  adapted  to  offensive  warfare,  but  in  the  defensive  he  was  equal,  if  not  superior,  to 
Fabius  or  Washington.  With  his  small  resources  no  one  could  have  done  better.  The  un 
fortunate  invasions  of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  in  1862  and  1863,  which  ended  in  Antietam 
and  Gettysburg,  were  made  against  his  advice  and  protestation.  If  France  had  had  such 
a  man  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  her  territory,  the  Prussians  would  not  have  been  to-day 
anywhere  near  Paris,  and  most  likely  would  have  been  expelled  from  French  soil.  The  odds 
which  he  contended  against  were  greater  than  hers.  He  was  a  great  captain  in  the  science 
<rf  military  tactics,  and  even  before  the  rebellion,  in  1 86 1,  he  had  obtained  the  reputation 
m  the  old  Federal  army  as  being  the  ablest  tactician  in  the  service,  which  his  after-career 
fully  justified." 

When  the  intolerant  passions  of  the  hour  shall  have  softened  to 
the  patient  temper  of  calm  discussion  and  of  fair  and  impartial  judgment, 
I  doubt  not  that  military  criticism  will  concede  to  the  great  Confederate 
genius  of  the  highest  order  for  both  aggressive  as  well  as  defensive 
warfare.  Time  and  the  publication  of  his  military  journal  will  supply 
to  history  great  explanations,  and  secure  to  General  LEE  the  glories 
•of  great  achievements  where  now  seems  only  the  cloud  of  misfortune 
and  defeat. 

His  mind,  like  his  person,  was  modeled  upon  exactest  harmonies, 
with  but  few  parallels  and  no  superiors.  God  develops  great  characters 
only  in  great  trials.  Pattern  virtues  in  pattern  men  are  the  gift  and  care 
f  the  Deity,  and  can  not  be  lost  to  fame.  A  true  hero  is  the  solitary 
gift  of  an  era  of  centuries.  The  mass  of  men  must  follow  and  revere. 
It  was  exalting  to  the  feelings  of  the  world  who  looked  upon  the  con 
flict,  and  it  should  be  the  pride  of  this  continent,  that  ROBERT  E.  LEE 
was  of  this  land  and  age;  that  armies  have  been  led  by  one  whom 

38 


( > 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

Christian  philosophy  had  molded  into  the  divinest  type  possible  to 
mortal  nature.  Whatever  others  may  say  of  his  course,  he  was  con 
fessedly  grand  in  it,  right  or  wrong.  He  made  high  demonstrations 
of  moral  possibilities,  and  furnished  to  history  the  most  crowded  chapter 
of  its  annals.  Was  ever  a  cause,  right  or  wrong,  so  glorified?  Did 
ever  great  virtues  more  magnify  themselves  ?  However  impoverished 
materially  may  be  the  South,  she  is  rich  in  the  deathless  fame  of  ROBERT 
E.  LEE,  that  is  unsullied  and  radiant  in  all  its  sublime  proportions. 
Success  would  not  have  enhanced  it,  while  failure  only  ennobled  and 
consecrated  it.  For  four  years  the  invincible  LEE  had  hurled  back 
from  the  Confederate  capital  army  after  army,  though  led  successively 
by  their  ablest  generals ;  he  had  enlisted  his  last  man ;  he  had  consumed 
his  last  ration;  surrounded  by  a  devastated  and  mourning  land,  ex 
hausted  by  his  very  victories,  confronted  by  a  still  fresh  and  larger 
army,  he  surrendered  with  an  assured  fame  his  worn,  wasted,  but 
glorious  veterans.  To  General  Grant,  above  all  presidential  honors, 
this  surrender  is  his  vast  renown,  and  left  him  nothing  grander  to 
design  or  accomplish. 

As  a  citizen,  his  example  was  no  less  conspicuous.  Like  the  bright 
ness  of  the  bow  upon  the  frown  of  the  storm,  so  were  his  hopefulness 
and  serene  grandeur  amidst  the  perplexing  and  distressing  chaos  of 
defeat  and  disappointment.  In  a  letter  before  me,  dated  May  12,  1865, 
after  an  allusion  to  the  past,  he  says :  "  It  is,  however,  useless  to  look 
back.  Now  that  the  South  is  willing  to  have  peace,  I  hope  it  may 
be  accorded  upon  a  permanent  basis;  that  the  affections  and  interests 
of  the  country  may  be  united,  and  not  a  forced  and  hollow  truce 
formed,  to  be  broken  on  the  first  opportunity.  To  this  end  all  good 
men  should  labor." 

As  it  was  primarily  for  Virginia  he  drew  his  sword,  so  to  her  interest 
he  devoted  his  days  of  peace.  Virginia  was  his  inspiration;  her  sons 
and  daughters  were  his  pride;  her  soil  his  home;  her  history  his 
heritage;  her  prosperity  his  joy;  and  her  sufferings  his  woe.  When  he 
could  no  longer  serve  her  in  the  field,  he  called  her  youth  to  his  side 
to  teach  them,  in  peace  and  good-will,  the  lessons  of  patient  submission 

39 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

and  of  hopeful  effort.  His  submission  was  sincere  and  unreserved. 
He  bore  with  intelligent  calmness  his  own  and  with  the  deepest  sym 
pathy  the  accumulated  misfortunes  of  his  people,  exhibiting  to  the 
world  the  rare  example  of  failure  without  dishonor,  submission  without 
abjectness,  and  dignity  without  ostentation.  Only  a  great  man  can 
fail  grandly.  As  his  splendid  presence  was  the  glory  of  the  army,  so 
the  august  simplicity  of  his  life  in  peace  was  the  remolding  influence 
and  impression  of  a  people  overwhelmed,  revolutionized,  and  wasted. 
The  eyes  of  the  thoughtful  looked  to  him  for  the  line  of  action  and 
the  spirit  of  the  hour.  His  mere  word  was  still  supremely  potential. 
Millions  learned  from  his  example  the  dignity  possible  to  misfortune, 
the  self-respect  and  hopefulness  of  dutiful  efforts,  and  realized  the  truth 
of  God's  word  to  man,  "He  that  is  slow  to  anger  is  better  than  the 
mighty,  and  he  that  ruleth  his  own  spirit  than  he  that  taketh  a  city." 

His  Christian  principles  and  character  were  his  crowning  adorn 
ment,  and  above  all  else  have  passed  within  the  vail.  Not  his  sagacious 
strategy,  not  his  remarkable  campaigns,  not  his  victorious  battles,  nor 
his  ereat  sacrifices  now  concern  him.  His  love  of  the  Savior  and 

o 

faith  in  the  sufficiency  of  his  atonement  completed  the  beautiful  sym 
metry  of  his  character,  and  have  now  crowned  him  with  everlasting 
life.  I  wish  I  could  adequately  describe  the  scene  by  the  side  of  the 
death-bed  of  dear  old  Bishop  Meade  when  the  famous  General  knelt 
to  receive  his  parting  benediction. 

For  nine  months  during  the  siege  of  Petersburg  I  saw  no  little  of 
his  spiritual  life.  I  shall  never  forget  the  scene  when  I  read  prayers 
and  preached  at  his  headquarters,  unable  from  the  shelling  of  the  city 
to  reach  my  church  or  open  it  for  service.  The  place  was  one  of 
peculiar  and  picturesque  beauty.  In  the  distance  to  the  east  were  the 
lines  of  the  Federal  intrenchments,  from  which  came  frequent  shot  and 
shell  upon  the  city  and  its  approaches;  opposite  was  the  city  with 
its  tangled  streets  and  rising  spires ;  below  and  along  the  base  of  the 
bluff  on  which  was  his  tent  rolled  with  a  sluggish  tide  the  quiet 
Appomattox.  From  the  cabins,  barns,  tents,  and  arbors  of  the  vicinity 

around  had  gathered  the  refugees  from  the  city,  who  had  sought  shelter 

40 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

from  the  shells  that  swept  over  and  through  it  by  night  and  by  day. 
Under  a  large  and  spreading  live-oak  were  placed  the  table  and  prayer- 
book  of  the  officiating  minister,  and  around  it  gathered  these  houseless 
people  and  the  great  General  of  their  armies.  To  the  right  and  a 
little  behind  him  sat  General  Beauregard  and  his  staff,  and  still  further 
to  the  right  and  rear  were  General  A.  P.  Hill  and  his  staff,  with  other 
generals  and  staffs,  forming  a  congregation  of  several  hundred,  and 
comprising  many  of  the  most  conspicuous  men  of  the  South.  His 
manner  at  service  was  devout,  attentive,  and  unaffected.  At  first  many 
during  prayer  remained  seated  on  their  rude  benches,  but  he  was  too 
great  not  to  kneel  to  his  God,  and  the  example  was  contagious.  His 
worship  was  a  reality.  He  enjoyed  and  was  strengthened  by  it.  He 
had  no  speculative  doubts  of  Christian  truth,  no  reserve  of  faith,  no 
questioning  of  God's  providence.  His  faith  was  a  clear,  satisfactory, 
child-like  trust.  He  loved  God  and  little  children.  For  the  months 
of  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  when  the  shelling  abated  or  was  only 
occasional,  and  many  people  returned  to  their  homes,  he  was  regularly 
at  church,  and  sat  in  the  minister's  pew  and  with  the  minister's  family; 
and  when  the  congregation  was  dismissed  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 
to  see  him  leaving  the  church  with  a  bevy  of  children  clinging  to  his 
hands  and  coat,  while  his  countenance  beamed  with  benignity  and 
peace.  His  fondness  for  children  was  undisguised  and  deep.  It  is 
said  that  one  day  in  Richmond  a  number  of  little  girls  was  rolling 
hoops  on  the  sidewalk  when  word  was  passed  from  one  to  another 
that  General  LEE  was  riding  toward  them.  They  all  gathered  into 
a  still  group  to  gaze  upon  one  of  whom  they  heard  so  much,  when, 
to  their  surprise,  he  threw  his  rein  to  his  attending  courier,  dis 
mounted,  and  kissed  every  one  of  them,  and  then  remounting  rode 
away  with  the  sunny  smile  of  childhood  in  his  heart  and  plans  of  great 
battles  in  his  mind.  Once  in  Petersburg  he  called  to  see  a  child  in 
whom  he  felt  a  special  interest,  and  finding  her  sick  begged  to  be  shown 
to  her  room.  When  the  mother,  who  was  at  a  neighbor's  for  a  moment, 
came  home  to  receive  him  she  found  him  by  the  bedside  of  her  sick 

child,  ministering  to   her   comfort  and    cheering    her  with    his   words. 

E  41 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

Who  would  not  and  does  not  love  such  a  man?  He  who  loves  God 
and  little  children  can  feel  no  conciousness  of  guilt  or  of  ill-will  to 
his  fellow-men.  He  loved  his  fellow-men.  He  was  tender  of  life  and 
suffering.  The  record  of  God  accuses  him  of  no  wanton  aggravation 
to  the  stern  and  bitter  necessities  of  war.  He  made  no  war  upon 
helpless  women  and  children,  the  poor  and  the  destitute.  If  he  struck, 
it  was  at  men  threatening  his  home  and  the  homes  of  the  people  \vho 
called  him  to  defend  them.  There  was  no  resentment  in  his  warfare — 
no  blows  with  passion.  He  ever  seemed  to  live  as  one  who  must  give 
an  account  to  God.  But  there  was  in  his  religion  faith  without  fanati 
cism,  prayer  without  pretension,  and  an  earnestness,  gentleness,  and 
simplicity  that  kept  him  tranquil  in  disaster  and  grand  in  the  final 
catastrophies  of  fortune.  Modest  and  humble,  he  blamed  himself  for 
his  failures  and  glorified  God  for  his  success. 

From  these  inner  principles  came  an  outer  life  and  manner  as 
graceful  as  they  were  serene  and  majestic.  Nothing  unworthy  could 
abide  his  presence;  yet  all  felt  exalted  by  having  seen  and  heard  him. 
With  him  the  weak  felt  strong  and  the  good  secure.  Amidst  a  thou 
sand  a  child  would  have  selected  him  as  its  friend,  and  the  pure 
and  good  of  all  ages  and  conditions  ever  felt  him  to  be  their  pattern 
and  champion. 

In  his  person  he  was  a  paragon  of  manliness — tall,  commanding, 
and  courtly.  He  sat  his  horse  with  a  matchless  grace,  and  ravished 
all  eyes  and  hearts  with  the  peerless  splendor  of  his  personal  and 
martial  bearing.  Many  of  you  may  have  seen  the  hushed  reverence 
with  which  his  troops  hailed  his  approach.  When  the  resistless  Jackson 
swept  down  the  line  a  shout  followed  his  form,  but  when  the  majestic 
LEE  came,  as  the  morning  sun  over  a  storm-ridden  sea,  all  hearts 
bowed  in  unutterable  devotion.  He  seemed  to  the  southern  troops  and 
people  more  than  mortal.  Where  he  led  all  squadrons  followed  with 
unquestioning  confidence.  No  one  ever  debated  the  wisdom  of  an 
order  or  suggested  to  him  the  possibility  of  an  error.  His  decisions 
were  accepted  as  the  conclusions  of  the  highest  intelligence.  What 

he  did  or  advised  was  felt  to  be  for  the  best,  and  what   he   failed  to 

42 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

accomplish  no  human  power  need  attempt.  The  southern  people  feel 
that  their  generals  were  unequaled  in  the  great  art  of  war,  and  that 
their  great  Captain  whom  they  mourn  to-day  takes  his  niche  in  the 
gallery  of  the  greatest  warriors  of  the  world.  As  they  can  not  and 
do  not  say  that  they  failed  because  they  were  not  sufficiently  and 
gloriously  led,  the  result  therefore  is  less  galling  and  reproachful. 
When  LEE  and  the  great  captains  who  sustained  him  failed,  and  their 
flag  went  down  forever,  they  knew  that  the  best  had  been  done  that 
man  could  do.  There  was  no  effort  to  retrieve  fortunes  lost  through 
incompetent  leaders  —  no  lingering,  desultory,  guerrilla  strife  in  the 
wilderness  and  mountains.  When  the  great  LEE  surrendered  none 
doubted  its  necessity.  No  man  ever  so  possessed  the  boundless  confi 
dence  of  a  people,  or  was  ever  so  beloved,  even  in  his  failures  that 
developed  the  completed  ruin  of  their  homes  and  fortunes.  To-day 
their  hearts  are  in  his  coffin,  and  they  mourn  in  a  big  and  voiceless 
woe,  not  because  he  constructed  for  them  a  new  government,  not  be 
cause  he  saved  their  homes  from  devastation,  not  because  he  brought 
their  sons  back  to  them  bloodless  and  scarless,  not  because  he  wove 
and  unfurled  forever  a  new  flag  on  sea  and  shore,  not  because  he  suc 
ceeded,  but  they  love  him  because  he  left  them  inscribed  in  the  calendar 
of  time  the  hallowed  glory  of  his  sacred  name  and  character.  They 
say  to  the  world,  Look  at  him  and  where  is  his  equal?  He  did  not 
succeed  as  you  wished  success ;  but  what,  O  Southrons,  would  you  take 
for  his  fame  ?  Henceforth,  whatever  material  progress  other  sections 
may  boast,  the  people  of  the  South  may  point  to  the  more  than  imperial 
renown  of  their  Washington  and  their  LEE,  and  say  these  are  ours, 
of  our  own  race  and  of  our  own  blood  and  of  our  own  color.  No 
remapping  of  states,  no  spirit  of  government,  no  inevitable  change 
of  institutions  can  rob  us  of  these  glories — forever  and  forever  they 
are  ours  and  the  world's.  If  this  is  all  that  is  left  us  it  is  enough. 
We  gave  to  history  the  proudest  and  purest  name  of  all; 

"  For  its  fame  on  brightest  pages, 
Penned  by  poets  and  by  sages, 
Shall  go  sounding  down  the  ages; " 
43 


IN  MEMORIAM. 

and   manhood   is    nobler   that   he    lived   as    he    did    live,  and  died  as 
he  died. 

And  now,  young  men  of  the  South,  leaving  to  some  future  orator 
the  more  elaborate  and  formal  eulogium  upon  the  life,  deeds,  relations, 
and  renown  of  the  majestic  dead,  before  the  solemn  words  of  dust  to 
dust,  earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes  announce  that  all  his  mortality  has 
forever  passed  away,  let  me  before  his  open  grave  urge  upon  you  his 
lessons  of  wisdom,  and  like  him  to  wrest  from  misfortune  its  divine 
compensations  in  the  future.  You  have  submitted  nobly  and  truly. 
The  future  belongs  to  the  God  of  Hope.  In  cheerful  patience,  in  efforts 
however  humble,  in  virtue  however  tried,  in  discouragement  however 
dark  and  protracted,  observe  the  dignity  and  self-poising  of  your  great 
leader  as  displayed  in  the  fires  of  his  adversity.  Like  some  mountain 
pine,  still  erect. and  aloft  in  its  towering  solitude,  though  scarred  by 
the  lightnings  of  heaven,  he  remained  in  his  repose,  immovable  in  his 
moral  sufficiency,  equal  to  all  vicissitudes,  the  conqueror  of  himself,  and 
the  pride  of  mankind. 

Let  disappointment  disenchant  your  hearts 
And  lift  them  up  to  God;  redeem  the  past 
With  self-suppressions,  prayer,  and  high  resolves 
Live  humbly,  trusting  God  for  future  good ; 
Live  for  eternity,  not  time;  see  far 
Beyond  these  eddies  of  events,  these  hours 
Of  joy  and  years  of  pain,  the  guerdon  bright : 
Immortal  youth,  and  changeless  love,  and  peace, 
And  ever-growing  thought,  and  deep'ning  fields 
Of  grandeur — angels,  seraphs,  jeweled  hosts, 
And  uncreated  light,  O  youth !  O  man  ! 
O  quenchless  soul !  O  child  of  God !  these,  these 
Survive  the  passions,  wars,  and  names  and  deeds, 
And  proud  report  of  man ;  survive  the  globe, 
Survive  the  lofty  stars  and  moon  and  sun ; 
Survive  the  years,  survive  the  grave,  survive 
In  God  the  trophies  of  redeeming  love. 
44 


APPENDIX. 

The  following-named  business-houses  were  closed  in  honor  of  the 
memory  of  General  LEE  during  his  obsequies: 


Pitman,  Berry  A  Co. 

Gardner  A  Co. 

C.  E.  Radden  &  Co. 

Chamberlin  A  Ingalls. 
Vacaro  A  Bro. 

Wm.  Bennett. 
Spelger  Bros. 

Jones,  Tapp  A  Co. 
Prather,  Smith  A  Co. 

Edelen,  HuffakerA  Shy. 

Geo.  W.  Wicks  A  Co. 

Trabue,  Davis  A  Co. 

Moore,  Bremaker  A  Co. 

C.  H.  Hewitt  A  Co. 

Waide,  Gaines  A  Co. 

Munger  A  Co. 

J.  S.  Lithgow  A  Co. 

Smith,  Amis  &  Co. 

Kentucky  Rolling  Mill  Co. 
Page  A  Co. 

Geo.  C.  Hunter  A  Co. 
Pitkin,  Wiard  A  Co. 

Porter,  Akin  A  Co. 
Ronald,  Bro.  A  Co. 

T.  Guinan. 

J.  G.  Mathers. 

E.  Bohrer. 

C.  R.  Green. 

Janney  A  Perry. 

Frank  Dirksen. 

J.  F.  Lang. 
B.  Steinberg. 

Louis  Tripp. 
Kitts  A  Werne. 

A.  Nichol. 
Mrs.  B.  F.  Whiting. 

Mrs.  H.  Frankle. 

E.  Sincere. 

S.  Aron. 

George  Button. 

Walton  Bros. 

Samuel  P.  Leedly. 

A.  Rosenbaum. 

Hegan  Bros. 

Mrs.  J.  Rosenfield. 

German  Bank  and  Ins.  Co. 

D.  O'Hare. 

Carter,  Fisher  A  Co. 

Harris,  Nahm  A  Co. 

Jos.  Griffith  A  Sons. 

Low  A  Whitney. 

Tapp,  Walsh  A  Co. 

Wm.  Rosenberg  A  Co. 

Kahn  A  Wolf. 

Peter,  Power  A  Cooper. 
Tohn  G.  Baxter. 

Hastings  A  Courtney. 
H.  A  S.  Hodkinson. 

Johnston,  Newman  &  Co. 
Walton.A  Co. 

Netherland  A  Hart. 

John  A.  Dickinson. 

Crawford  A  Sale. 

John  Watson. 

Davidson,  Bros.  A  Co. 

A.  B.  Burnham  A  Co. 

Sherrill,  Pratt  A  Co. 

J.  H.  Schroeder  A  Son. 

Clarke  A  Allen. 

Read  A  Truman. 

Archibald  A  Davis. 

Beattv  A  Shalles. 

Callaghan  A  Trigg. 

Newcomb,  Buchanan  A  Co. 

Gad.  Davis. 

J.  T.  S.  Brown  A  Co. 

R.  H.  Robinson. 

Mrs.  Lincoln. 

J.  M.  Robinson  A  Co. 

A.  Templeton. 

L.  L.  Warren  A  Co. 

Warren,  Reach  A  Co. 

Merriman  A  Co. 

Edward  Wilder  A  Co. 

N.  Gwvnn  A  Co. 

W.  Kendrick. 

Snoddy  A  Parrish. 

J.  W.  Morrill  A  Co. 

James  Todd  A  Co. 

Truman  Bros.  A  Swann. 

S.  G.  Henry  A  Co. 

G.  W.  McCready. 

Terry,  Wheat  &  Chesney. 

Bavless,  McCarthy  A  Co. 

Ouerbacker,  Benham  A  Co. 

Harvey  &  Keith. 

N.  "Miller. 

Ropke  A  Haxthausen. 

Haynes,  Neel  £  Co. 

A.  H.  Gardner. 

John  Duffy  A  Co. 

Quast  Schulten. 

Griffith  A  Van  Pelt. 

Gould,  Field  A  Co. 

Al.  Bourlier  &  Bro. 

Sherman  A  Co. 

Torbitt  A  Castleman. 

Phil.  Lotich. 

T.  A  R.  Slevin  A  Cain. 

Dodge,  Rhorer  A  Co. 

John  Flexner. 

John  H.  Thomas  A  Co. 

Geary,  Driesbach  A  Co. 

Jackson,  Loving  &  Co. 

Harbison  A  Gathright. 

Cornwall  A  Brother. 

John  Kohlhepp. 

C.  P.  Barnes  A  Bro. 

Moore  A  Co. 

R.  E.  Sewell. 

Stump  A  Walts. 

W.  H.  Walker  A  Co. 

Geo.  F.  Wood  £  Bro. 

White  A  Cochrane. 

Hughes,  Goslee  A  Co. 

Neale  &  Co. 

Otter  A  Co. 

Hall  A  Long. 

Baird  Bros. 

Grove,  Roach  A  Co. 
Isaac  Slaughter. 

Owsley  A  Co. 
Fears,  Bartley  A  Co. 

Joseph  T.  Tompkins  &  Co. 
Thomas  Hackett. 

Jacob  Thorne,  jr. 

A.  Schoeffel  A  Co. 

C.  Euler. 

R.  A.  Robinson  A  Co. 

O.  W.  Thomas  A  Co. 

H.  Wedekind  &  Co. 

Piatt  A  Allen. 

Hamilton  A  Bros. 

Hirsch  &  Flexner. 

L.  A  G.  Bronner  A  Co. 

W.  H.  Slaughter  A  Co. 

W.  T.  Weller  &  Son. 

M.  Leopold  A  Co. 

Phillips  A  Scally. 

Lewis,  Gage  &  Co. 

Gheens  A  Co. 

Chambers  A  Kean. 

H.  C.  Murrell. 

Jacob  F.  Weller. 

McNeil,  Wright  A  Sanders. 

J.  B.  Wilder  &  Co. 

Sutc'.iffe  A  Owen. 

Chambers  Bros.  A  Co. 

Porch.  Cooke  &  Bryant. 

Bamberger,  Bloom  A  Co. 
Hays,  Cross  A  Co. 

J.  M.  Reamer. 
J.  T.  McRea. 

Car.non  &  Bvers. 
W.  T.  Tapp. 

T.  Anderson  A  Co. 

J.  W.  Wheeler. 

S.  Ullinan  A,  Co. 

Moss  A  Semple. 

John  Murt. 

W.  H.  Welman. 

T.  Brid^eford  A  Co. 

A.  A.  Wheeler. 

R.  Brown  &  Co. 

Wm.  F.  Beasley  A  Co. 

Thos.  J.  Martin  A  Son. 

Moore,  Underwood  £  Co. 

Harvey  A  Girdar. 

Overall,  Morlan  A  Co. 

C.  R.  Woodruff. 

Sabel,  Lazarus  A  Co. 

Lemont  A  McCormick. 

Wolf  &  Durringer. 

Ripev,  Burrell  A  Co. 

A.  H.  Patterson. 

McCready  £  Martin. 

Merrill  A  Hart. 

Mills  A  Duckwall.     . 

E.  Stokes. 

Barbee  A  Castleman. 

F.  S.  Van  Alstine. 

C.  G.  Tachau  &  Co. 

W.  H.  Stokes  A  Co. 

Hunter  A  Co. 

John  B.  Pirtle. 

To.  C.  Pell. 

John  B.  Mcllvaine  A  Son. 

A.  Levi  &  Co. 

W.  A.  Owen. 

Dorn,  Barkhouse  A  Co. 

H.  S.  Buckner  &  Co. 

John  P.  Morton  A  Co. 

S.  T.  Suit  A  Cc. 

J.  C.  Webb  &  Co. 

45 

Bennett  Bros.  F.  M.  Co. 
Small.  Levy  &  Co. 
S.  Diabelle. 
Alrich  £  Schwenck. 

C.  W.  Stevenson. 
Andrew  Graham. 
Maxwell  &  Co. 
Stratton,  Snodgrass  &  Co. 
Hall's  Safe  and  Lock  Co. 
Joplin  &  Reynolds. 
Stuckey  &  Barret. 

John  Castleman. 
Henry  W.  Barret. 
N.  D.  Hunter  &  Co. 
Mooney,  Mantle  &  Cowan. 
Hackett,  Anderson  £  Fore 
man. 

Gerding  &  Hanna. 
E.  G.  Wigginton  &  Co. 
J.  D.  Bondurant. 
Peaslee,  Gaulbert  &  Co. 

A.  L  Harding. 
H.  N.  Gage. 
O.  Rawson. 
German  &  Bro. 
M  on  teal  m  &  Co. 

B.  C.  Levi. 
Heath,  Smith  &  Co. 
Smith,  Sturgeon  &  Co. 
Montgomery  &  Co. 

J.  L.  Botsford  &  Co. 
Krack,  Reed  £  Co. 
E.  Boyd  &  Co. 

D.  S.  Benedict  &  Sons 

A.  T.  Smith. 

D.  Marshall. 

B.  W.  Wood. 
Edw.  Fulton. 

H.  Verhoeff,  jr.,  &  Co. 
Shirley  &  Woolfolk. 
O'Bannon  &  Bashaw. 
McFerran,  Armstrong  &  Co. 
John  M.  Stokes  &  Son. 

C.  Ketchum. 

D.  P.  Faulds. 

J.  V.  Escott  &  Son. 
Bennett  &  Bourne. 
Henry  Wehmhoff. 
John  L.  Anderson. 
Ladd  &  Sullivan. 
R.  E.  Miles. 
Davis  &  Hudson. 
Duncan,  Floyd  &  Co. 
Warren  Mitchell  &  Co. 
W.  T.  Hammond  &  Co. 
J.  V.  Cowling,  jr. 
A.  A.  Richardson  &  Son. 
Whitney,  Brown  &  Co. 
J.  C.  Buckles. 
J.  Peter  &.  Co. 
T.  L.  Jefferson  &  Bro. 
John  White  &  Co. 
R.  R.  Thatcher. 
Guthrie  &  Co. 
Duckwall,  Troxell  &  Co. 

E.  W.  &  L.  P.  Kennedy. 

E.  Bustard. 


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